‘Ditch cars for good,’ says Islington councillor as study shows cleaner air after ULEZ expansion

Caroline Russell AM. Photograph: City Hall

Islington’s assembly member has called for Londoners to “ditch cars for good” as a study shows the positive impact of the city’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) on air pollution.

A report from City Hall this morning revealed nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels across the capital are estimated to have fallen by record levels, and London’s air quality is improving at a faster rate than the rest of the UK, after ULEZ was expanded to outer London.

Caroline Russell AM, who represents Islington on the Greater London Authority, said she was “glad we finally got there” but argued that the scheme should have been London-wide “from the very beginning”.

She told the Citizen: “All the campaigners – Clean Air London, Mums for Lungs, and Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, who lost her daughter Ella to air pollution – have been saying this for years.

“It’s a shame it took so long.”

In October last year, the UK government has reached a settlement with Ms Kissi-Debrah, whose nine-year-old daughter Ella Adoo died in 2013 due to an asthma attack exacerbated by air pollution.

NO2 is known to heighten the risk of lung cancer, hinder lung development and worsen asthma.

First introduced in 2019, the policy charges drivers £12.50 for driving polluting, non-compliant vehicles.

After Sadiq Khan expanded ULEZ to the city’s outer areas in August 2023, data shows there were nearly 100,000 fewer such vehicles on London’s roads on an average day in September 2024, compared to the year before.

In a press statement, Khan said the study vindicated his decision as “the right one”.

“It has been crucial to protect the health of Londoners, support children’s lung growth, and reduce the risk of people developing asthma, lung cancer and a host of other health issues related to air pollution.”

Jemima Hartshorn, director of Mums for Lungs, welcomed the findings but warned that “pollution across the country and even London remains too high”.

“Hopefully, the national Government will learn from this success and support mayors and councils in stopping pollution from diesel and wood-burning making us sick.”

Cllr Russell AM suggested the progress highlighted the need to reduce traffic across London’s roads even further,  and not solely for the emissions impact but to improve the city’s buses and train networks.

“If we make public transport more frequent, reliable, and convenient, more people will choose it over cars, and we’ll create a virtuous cycle of cleaner air and safer streets,” she said.

The study examined data across 12 months from September 2023 and was reviewed by a group of independent air quality experts.

It found that London’s air quality has improved nearly all (99 per cent) of the city’s air quality monitoring sites since 2019, when ULEZ was first implemented.

Other findings include:

• Particle emissions (PM 2.5) from vehicle exhausts are 31 per cent lower in outer London in 2024 than they would have been without the ULEZ expansion.
• The environmental impact of ULEZ has been substantial, cutting carbon emissions by the equivalent of almost three million one-way passenger trips between Heathrow and New York.
• The boroughs that have seen the biggest reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions due to the ULEZ expansion are Sutton, Merton, Croydon, Harrow and Bromley, where harmful emissions are estimated to be around 15 per cent lower in 2024.

These five boroughs notably opposed the zone’s expansion and mounted a failed legal challenge to the rollout, costing £730,000.

In light of the report, Colin Smith, leader of Bromley Council, criticised the “one-size-fits-all lunacy” of ULEZ expansion and said it had “destroyed care networks”, the BBC reported.

Russell warned that “the safe limits for air pollution have been lowered, and we know that PM 2.5 pollution across the city is still unsafe”.