{"id":15760,"date":"2016-07-08T11:15:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T10:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=15760"},"modified":"2016-07-08T11:15:11","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T10:15:11","slug":"sadiq-khan-unveils-action-plan-battle-londons-toxic-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/08\/sadiq-khan-unveils-action-plan-battle-londons-toxic-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Sadiq Khan Unveils Action Plan to Battle London\u2019s Toxic Air"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Mayor of London,\u00a0Sadiq Khan launched plans for the toughest crackdown on the most polluting vehicles by any major city around the world.<\/p>\n<p>A \u00a310 charge for the most polluting vehicles and an extended Ultra-Low Emission Zone will be part of a major public consultation launched today, the 60<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n<p>With around 9,500 Londoners dying from long-term exposure to air pollution every year and latest research revealing over 443 schools in the capital\u00a0are in areas exceeding safe legal pollution levels, Sadiq Khan wants to take urgent action\u00a0to help end London&#8217;s &#8216;public health emergency&#8217; and clean up the capital\u2019s filthy air.<\/p>\n<p>From new charges for the oldest most polluting vehicles, to improved alerts for high-pollution episodes, the Mayor is today asking Londoners for their views on his Clean Air Action plan.<\/p>\n<p>The public have\u00a0until Friday 29th July 2016 to feed back on the first round of the consultation, further more detailed consultation will take place later this year\u00a0and some measures could be implemented as early as 2017.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key proposals include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8211; Implementing a \u00a310 Emissions Surcharge (dubbed the \u2018T-charge\u2019) on the most polluting vehicles entering central London from 2017.\u00a0 The charge\u00a0would apply to all vehicles with pre-Euro 4 emission standards (broadly speaking those registered before 2005) and will cost an extra \u00a310 per day on top of the\u00a0existing Congestion Charge.<\/li>\n<li>&#8211; Introducing the central London Ultra-Low Emission Zone one year earlier in 2019<\/li>\n<li>&#8211; Extending the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (\u2018ULEZ\u2019) beyond central London from 2020: for motorcycles, cars and vans, to the North and South Circular; and for lorries, buses and coaches London-wide<\/li>\n<li>&#8211; Developing a detailed proposal for a national diesel scrappage scheme for Government to implement<\/li>\n<li>&#8211; Bringing forward the requirement for all double\u2013deck buses to be ULEZ-compliant in central London from 2020 to 2019<\/li>\n<li>&#8211; Implementing clean bus corridors \u2013 tackling the worst pollution hotspots by delivering cleaner buses on the dirtiest routes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Emissions Surcharge in 2017, followed by an expanded ULEZ in 2020, would be the toughest crackdown on the most polluting vehicles by any major city around the world.<\/p>\n<p>On the 60<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the Clean Air Act,\u00a0\u200ethe Mayor delivered a keynote speech at the consultation launch and visited a Great Ormond Street Hospital specialist ward caring for children with a variety of respiratory conditions which are all adversely affected by poor air quality.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15763\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15763\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14.jpg\" alt=\"14\" width=\"1208\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14.jpg 1208w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-300x238.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-768x610.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-1024x814.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-696x553.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-1068x849.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/14-529x420.jpg 529w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1208px) 100vw, 1208px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWith nearly 10,000 people dying early every year in London due to exposure to air pollution, cleaning up London\u2019s toxic air is\u00a0now an issue of life and death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the 60<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the Clean Air Act of 1956, which was\u00a0passed following the great London smogs of the 1950s. \u00a0The legislation made a huge difference to life in London and saved countless lives.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;British politicians at the time did an amazing thing and responded on the scale that was required.\u00a0\u00a0Today we face another pollution public health emergency in London and now it\u2019s our turn to act for the good of Londoners and for future generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust as in the 1950s, air pollution in London today is literally killing Londoners.\u00a0 But unlike the smoky pollution of the past, today\u2019s pollution is a hidden killer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scale of the failure to tackle the problem is demonstrated by the failure\u00a0of the Government and the previous Mayor to meet legal pollution limits.\u00a0 Urgent action is now needed to ensure Londoners no longer have to fear the very air we breathe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m launching a hard-hitting plan of action to clean up our filthy air.\u00a0 Tough challenges call for tough measures, so I\u2019m proposing a new \u00a310 charge for the most polluting vehicles in central London from 2017, followed by an even stronger crackdown on vehicles pumping out hazardous pollutants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is just a small part of the wider measures I\u2019m consulting on to protect the health of Londoners.\u00a0 And I urge everyone to respond and share their views and ideas to help tackle this public health emergency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am also calling on the Government to work with me and to take more action to tackle air pollution.\u00a0 We can\u2019t do this alone in London.\u00a0 The Government should seize the spirit of the 60th\u00a0anniversary of the Clean Air Act and pass new legislation fit for the 21st\u00a0century.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This needs to provide new powers and legal protections to ensure that the existing legal limits for air pollutants are retained\u00a0following Brexit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Great Ormond Street Hospital the Mayor met Dr Colin Wallis,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Consultant in Respiratory Paediatrics, who told him that many young patients live with respiratory conditions exacerbated by poor air quality conditions.<\/p>\n<p>To help address this\u00a0the\u00a0hospital has brought in\u00a0a clean-air zone around the hospital\u2019s vicinity encouraging staff, patients and families not to let their car engines idle, and to use low emission taxis and minicabs or walk or cycle wherever possible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr Peter Steer, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH), said: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Mayor\u2019s drive to clean up the capital\u2019s air is fantastic news for our patients and staff. Children living in highly polluted areas are four times more likely to have reduced lung function in adulthood, yet improving air quality has been shown to halt and reverse this effect.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15762\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15762\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8.jpg\" alt=\"8\" width=\"1002\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8.jpg 1002w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8-300x287.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8-768x736.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8-696x667.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/8-438x420.jpg 438w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the UK\u2019s most seriously ill children come to GOSH for our world class care, we want to ensure that they are \u00a0not exposed to high levels of harmful pollution and so we are pleased improving London\u2019s air quality is a priority for the Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mayor of London,\u00a0Sadiq Khan launched plans for the toughest crackdown on the most polluting vehicles by any major city around the world. A \u00a310 charge for the most polluting vehicles and an extended Ultra-Low Emission Zone will be part of a major public consultation launched today, the 60th\u00a0anniversary of the Clean Air Act. With [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,38,3,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","category-national-news","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}