Five million people would breathe cleaner air if ULEZ expanded

Five million people are expected to breathe cleaner air if ULEZ is expanded to outer London, according to City Hall analysis.

The expansion would reduce the number of Londoners living in areas exceeding interim Word Health Organization (WHO) targets for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by 13 percent. This would improve air quality for 340,000 people including 87,000 children, 50,000 older people and 145 schools.
 
The City Hall analysis has revealed the stark situation in outer London which at the moment isn’t in the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
 
Currently all of outer London’s monitoring stations are exceeding the new WHO recommended guideline for harmful pollutant NO2 of 10 ug/m3.

80 per cent of outer London’s monitoring stations are currently showing concentrations above the interim WHO recommended guideline for NO2 of 20ug/m3.

The urgent need to tackle the capital’s toxic air and protect all Londoners’ health is why the Mayor is consulting on expanding the ULEZ London-wide. Transport for London’s consultation closes today and Londoners can give their views on the expansion at www.tfl.gov.uk/clean-air

Last week the Mayor published findings from the first six months of the ULEZ expansion to the North and South Circular roads, which showed significant progress in cleaning up London’s air. There were 67,000 fewer non-compliant vehicles in the zone on an average day compared to the period right before the ULEZ expanded. As a result, the scheme has helped reduce roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in inner London by 20 per cent compared to a scenario without the ULEZ and its expansion to inner London.  
 
The central London ULEZ helped reduced NO2 concentrations by 44% in the zone, particulate matter concentrations (PM2.5) by 27% and carbon emissions by 6%.