London’s ultra-low traffic zone (ULEZ) is expanding into Islington from 24 October to combat a rise in traffic pollution during the pandemic.
“Despite recent improvements in air quality, toxic air pollution in London remains the biggest environmental risk to the health of all Londoners,” TfL said in an online statement. “Air pollution is not just a central London problem, with many areas across the city still exceeding the legal limits for pollution.”
Campaign groups across Islington have welcomed the news. Islington Clean Air Parents tweeted: “We’d like it to come to Islington as soon as possible and include black taxis. Why wait? children are breathing in toxic air and suffering physical and mental health issues. Wider ULEZ is very important to cleaning up London.”
Oliver Lord, head of Policy, Campaigns and Clean Air at the Environmental Defense Fund Europe was also enthusiastic. He said: “We’re super excited about this expansion. Bringing it [ULEZ] to residential areas like the whole of Islington and other boroughs is just going to be a game changer, really.”
For Lord, the ULEZ will go a long way towards battling Islington’s poor air quality. “Islington breaches – it’s not all about legality, it’s also about the guidelines the World Health Organisation set out, and pretty much the entire borough is breaching those guidelines, not only for the toxic gas, which is nitrogen dioxide, but also the toxic particulate matter.”
The new ULEZ boundaries will encompass the entire borough of Islington up to the North Circular Road in Haringey. The system itself, which was introduced into Central London in April 2019, fines drivers £12.50 per day if their vehicles don’t meet emissions standards. According to TfL, the number of vehicles meeting standards has risen from 39 per cent in February 2017 to over 80 per cent, and nitrogen dioxide levels on ULEZ roadsides have decreased 44 per cent.
Islington council was one of the first to declare a climate emergency in 2019, and since then has published its Vision 2030 strategy which would see the borough become carbon neutral by 2030. “It is therefore important to tackle both climate and air quality together to maximise improvements in both,” the council said in a statement announcing the ULEZ.
