Sadiq Khan urges leaders of four London councils to drop their opposition to ... trends now
London mayor Sadiq Khan has urged the leaders of four councils in the city to drop their opposition to his expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez).
Mr Khan wrote to the leaders of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils over their potential legal challenge to the £110million ULEZ scrappage scheme, calling the measure 'wholly without merit and misconceived'.
He has insisted that the expansion, set to take place to cover the whole of the capital from August 29, is not a 'money-making venture'.
All four councils are currently examining the legal basis of Mr Khan's decision to plough ahead with the expansion, despite his own consultation showing that 80 per cent of local businesses and employees in outer London were opposed.
The council's have served a Pre Action Protocol letter to the Mayor's office and Transport for London (TfL) 'seeking further information to demonstrate the lawfulness of the decision they have made', Councillor Colin Smith, Leader of Bromley Council said.
Mr Khan (pictured) has insisted that the expansion, set to take place to cover the whole of the capital from August 29, is not a 'money-making venture'
The ultra-low emission zone is to be expanded in August to cover the whole of Greater London - seen here in purple
'The decision to blatantly ignore a significant majority opinion of Londoners who responded to TfL's consultation exercise, based on the highly questionable, selective and incomplete findings of a research paper commissioned by TfL themselves, simply cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged,' he added.
'The scheme isn't actually about air quality in the final analysis. The stealthy, unstated and cynical intention remains, under the guise of ULEZ, to erect a network of traffic cameras across the whole of the capital which can then be used at the flick of a switch to introduce road price charging for all.
'Whether that is a good thing, or bad thing, clearly depends on your point of view, but it should at least be fully debated and publicly scrutinised as a policy initiative in its own right, rather than slyly slipped in through the back door under a false agenda as a fait accompli.'
Legal advice is now being taken by the councils, ahead of a possible judicial review.
In a statement released last week, Mr Smith said on behalf of all
