Issue - meetings

To debate the motions submitted in accordance with Standing Order 41.

Members are asked to note:

·         The motions submitted for debate have been attached.

·         Where a motion concerns an executive function, nothing passed can be actioned until approved by the Executive or an officer with the relevant delegated power.

(Agenda republished to include the motions submitted for debate on 14 November 2023)

(1)        The following Motion submitted by the Conservative Group, was declared LOST and not approved:

“Expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) – Don’t Punish Brent Drivers

This Council notes that:

1.     On 4th March 2022 the Mayor of London announced his plan to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) from its current boundary of the North and South Circular Roads to cover almost all of Greater London.  Despite the best efforts of Londoners, the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) pushed through and expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on 29th August 2023 to all cover the whole of London.

2.     Whilst the ULEZ was originally introduced covering the same area and with the same boundaries as the Congestion Charge Zone it was expanded on 25th October 2021 by 18 times its original size to its previous boundaries before the further expansion on 29^th August 2023.  The ramifications of this significant change are being felt in outer London Boroughs with the full extent still to be assessed. It goes without saying that the Mayor of London is on an anti-car rampage and won’t be satisfied until we are “all out of cars”!

3.     The expansion of ULEZ means that those with non-compliant vehicles are paying £12.50 per day to drive within the ULEZ.  Residents are being forced to pay more to get to work, attend hospital appointments, visit friends and family and are not being able to take advantage of local businesses and high streets. This is costing jobs with essential workers such as doctors, nurses, care workers, teachers who rely on their vehicles also affected, especially those working nights who rely on use of their cars.  ULEZ is damaging the social fabric of our local area, and many businesses have been forced to locate elsewhere or plan to close.

4.     The ULEZ is a regressive tax, as the less well-off are disproportionately penalised. The expansion has also meant many more areas with poor public transport have been included within the zone which is fundamentally unfair as those residents unable to afford to keep or replace their car are being forced to rely on inadequate levels of public transport.

5.     It is disappointing, but not at all surprising, that the Mayor of London has left a black hole in TfL’s finances and the Labour Mayor now expects millions of families to foot the bill with an exorbitant £12.50 daily charge.

6.     Drivers have paid an estimated £52 million in levies and fines in the first month of the ULEZ expansion.  £52 million paid out of the pockets of the poorest Londoners is a disgrace with the scheme nothing more than a tax andmoney making scheme and nothing to do with protecting environment.

7.    During his time in office as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accumulated enough air miles to fly around the world fourteen times. He even chose to fly to Argentina for a hybrid meeting. All this whilst charging Londoners more  ...  view the full decision text for item 17

Before moving on to consider the motions listed on the summons, the Mayor advised members that a total of 40 minutes had been set aside for the consideration of the four motions submitted for debate, based on an initial allocation of 10 minutes per motion. Should the time taken to consider the first motion be less than 10 minutes she advised that the remaining time available would be rolled forward for consideration of the remaining motions.

17.1    1^st Motion (Conservative Group) – Expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ): Don’t Punish Brent Drivers

The Mayor invited Councillor Jayanti Patel to move the first motion which had been submitted on behalf of the Conservative Group. Councillor Jayanti Patel began by providing context to the motion which had been focussed on concerns regarding the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) from its previous boundary along the North and South Circular Road to cover the whole of London, including all of Brent.  This expansion, he felt, had caused a significant impact on local residents and businesses especially for those with non-compliant vehicles not eligible or able to take advantage of the existing limited scrappage scheme and who continued to rely on their vehicles for employment, social use or to take advantage of local businesses and high streets who were being forced to pay the charge to drive within the ULEZ.  In addition, Councillor Patel felt there was a need to recognise the regressive nature of the charge, not only in terms of the less well-off being disproportionately penalised but also in terms of residents unable to afford the charge having to rely on what he felt to be inadequate levels of public transport in many areas.

The motion, he pointed out, also sought to challenge the science behind the expansion as an anti-pollution and environmental protection measure with the scheme, in his view, designed purely as a means of generating additional income to address the significant gap in TfL funding during the current the Mayor of London’s tenure.  Highlighting the financial and social impact on local residents and lack of what he regarded as realistic alternatives, such as an acceptable scrappage scheme, Councillor Patel advised the motion was seeking support to abolish the ULEZ expansion with the funding released as a result used to fund other measures which it was felt would have a more positive impact on residents in Brent and across London including faster upgrade to a zero-emission bus fleet, increasing the roll out of rapid electric vehicle charging points, encouraging more freight consolidation schemes, reinstating the Boiler Cashback Scheme and providing a fairer and more generous scrappage scheme for non- compliant vehicles.

The Mayor thanked Councillor Jayanti Patel for moving the motion before inviting other members to speak, with the following contributions received.

In opening the debate, Councillor Grahl queried the challenge made to the science supporting expansion of the ULEZ given figures provided by the World Health Organisation in relation to the percentage of children now  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17