John Wilson asks if the Green Party has said nothing about ULEZ or has taken a stand which just hasn’t been widely reported (‘Will the Greens come to Khan’s rescue on ULEZ?’). I can confirm that we have been pushing Mayors for London-wide clean air zones for more than a decade now and have backed ULEZ on the Assembly from the outset.
Greens have consistently stood up for clean air and safe conditions for walking and cycling. I, personally, came into the Green Party after years campaigning for safer streets and cleaner air with Living Streets, and am sure that that contributed to my getting elected onto Islington Council and later the London Assembly.
Not everyone remembers that it was the Green Party councillor, Katie Dawson who first persuaded Islington to introduce 20mph speed limits on its roads in her 2010 budget amendment, and as far back as 2012 I was calling for Islington to be included in the planned ULEZ expansion. I worked with Outer London communities who were desperate to be included in ULEZ too, and published a report, “Left Out Londoners”, calling for ULEZ to be London-wide in 2017. And on 29th Aug this year, the day ULEZ went London-wide, I gave several media interviews, welcoming and supporting its expansion, at last, to the whole of London.
Clean air, though, needs Londoners both to drive cleaner cars and to drive less, and we need to make the changes as easy for everyone as possible, particularly in a time of such financial hardship. Another correspondent, Bryan Torfeh, suggests giving free or discounted trips, say twice a month, to people who only rarely drive, to avoid the costs – both financial and environmental – of trading in their older cars (‘Boost ULEZ with discounts’). This seems an interesting idea to me, and I will ask TfL to look into whether it would be practical for people who use their cars very occasionally to pay less for the one day in a blue moon that they drive in London.
Mr Torfeh suggests that problem-solving rather than extremist ideology is the grown-up way forward for our city and Mr Wilson that the Greens may be ‘the bold and uncompromisingly pro-environment party that London needs’. I wholeheartedly agree with both of them!
Cllr Caroline Russell, London Assembly member, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Islington North