The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today declared that Ministers have 'abandoned Londoners affected by toxic air pollution’, after Government officials confirmed that London will not be eligible to bid for the new £220 million Clean Air Fund announced by the Chancellor in the Budget.
The Chancellor used the budget to announce that he is increasing taxes on new diesel cars to create a new £220 million Clean Air Fund. The Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rate for new diesel cars will be increased by one band in the first year, and the diesel supplement in Company Car Tax will increase by one per cent. This means that the amount of VED paid in the first year by someone buying a new diesel car will increase by about £20. The changes to VED will not apply to next-generation diesel cars which are certified as meeting emissions limits in real world driving conditions.
Despite the fact that Londoners face these new taxes and breathe in some of the most toxic air in the country, with approximately 40 per cent of the UK's road kilometres exceeding legal NO2 limits in 2013 according to a national assessment, officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have confirmed that London will not be able to bid for the new £220 million fund.
The revelation is particularly embarrassing for the Minister for London, Greg Hands, who included the ‘Clean Air Fund’ in a list of reasons why the Budget is good for London in a tweet on Wednesday.
Air pollution is a public health crisis in London causing chronic illnesses, reduced lung function in small children, and contributing to thousands of premature deaths in London every year.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has set out the most ambitious plans to tackle air pollution of any city in world city from cleaning up thousands of polluted buses, delivering the world’s toughest new emission standard in Central London, the T-Charge, and confirming he will bring in the ULEZ 17 months earlier in April 2019.
However, the Government has refused to play its part in cleaning up London’s toxic air. As well as refusing to allocate extra resources to London, ministers have ignored the Mayor’s lobbying for the urgent diesel scrappage fund needed to rid the street of the dirtiest diesels vehicles. Only half of London’s toxic emissions are caused by road transport pollution and the Government has failed to give the Mayor and London boroughs the extra powers needed to tackle harmful non-road sources of emissions including construction and river pollution.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“This Government has abandoned Londoners affected by toxic air pollution.
“It is an absolute scandal that London will not benefit at all from the new Clean Air Fund – despite helping to pay for it.
“I am implementing the most ambitious plan of any city in the world to tackle toxic air pollution – but the Government is simply not doing its bit.
”It beggars belief that the Government have yet again left Londoners gasping for cleaner air.”
Dr Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said:
“Increasing tax on new diesel cars sends a clear message that diesel is toxic.
“Most of the air pollution we breathe in comes from traffic emissions, particularly from diesel vehicles.
“We now need the government to fund a targeted diesel scrappage scheme that provides incentives for electric vehicles, public transport, walking and cycling.”