Boris' Air Pollution Legacy

At the end of Boris' term, London is still experiencing high levels of illegal air pollution with health impacts for tens of thousands of Londoners. His response to this has been to propose a scheme he's called the 'Ultra Low Emission Zone' (ULEZ). This article looks in to the details of this, why it isn't going to give us clean air and what different mayoral candidates are proposing:

• The Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) are referring to the same small area of central London. Essentially the ULEZ is an update on the CCZ with additional environmental considerations. 
• It means vehicles have to be at the latest EU standards (Euro 6 for diesels, Euro 4 for petrol), So this doesn't ban diesels.
• It begins in 2020.

Other measures to reduce air pollution:

Currently the mayor has just got buses to the Euro 4 standard at the end of 2015 (by retrofitting Euro 3). The mayor has pinned his hopes on Euro 6 and so many of the buses in service are two generations older and very significantly dirtier.

Impact

• 9'500 deaths in London each year: http://www.healthyair.org.uk/twice-as-many-deaths-caused-by-air-pollution-in-london/
• Cardiovascular diseases account for 80% of all premature deaths due to air pollution. That's around 20 Londoners a day are dying from Cardiovascular Diseases linked to air pollution, mostly heart attacks and strokes. 
• Royal College of Physicians latest report: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution

It is obvious that the proposed ULEZ is coming in too late, lacks of decisive action and will fail to make any significant improvement apart from in a very limited area of central London.

Mayoral Candidates:

Zac (Conservative): Backing Boris' inadequate plans and promising more of the same.

Sadiq (Labour): Although showing a willingness to go further than Boris, his policies currently lack decisive action to deliver clean air for all Londoners. 

• Consult on bringing forward the Ultra-Low Emission Zone and expanding it along major arterial routes or a wider section of central London. Lack of details on what he would like to introduce.
• Call upon the Government to introduce a diesel vehicle scrappage scheme to support those who wish to change to a greener car. But not using his mayoral powers to ban these vehicles...
• Deliver the electric charging infrastructure, in partnership with the private sector, necessary for a major expansion in the use of electric vehicles.

Caroline (Lib Dems): Caroline Pidgeon's experience as an assembly member shows in her policies for clean air, which they say aren't just ambitious, but are deliverable in practice by a future mayor:

• Immediately add a £2:50 surcharge for diesels in the zone,
• Start the ULEZ in 2018 (2 years earlier)
• Ban diesel vehicles up to and including double-decker buses (not HGVS, presumably due to lack of alternatives) from the zone by 2024

Sian (Green Party): The Green Party are proposing a raft of policies to tighten up and improve the ULEZ in addition to making sure it is expanded to a wider area. This includes:

• Immediately introduce a higher congestion charge for all but the cleanest vehicles in central London, to create a Very Low Emission Zone. We will invite boroughs to opt in some or all of their area to expand this zone into illegally polluted parts of inner and outer London.
• Begin consultation immediately on a scheme to replace the ULEZ that will cover all of London and be effective in complying with the law. This could be combined with the new traffic demand management scheme we will develop to replace the Congestion Charge. 

Conclusions

While Sadiq is clearly leading Zac with his ambition for clean air, neither of the leading candidates are proposing decisive action on air pollution. In contrast, both the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are proposing immediate actions which would start giving us cleaner air from day one with plans to tighten the rules significantly over the next 5 years.

However in order to improve the health of the millions of Londoners living away from the centre, it's clear that clean air measures must be applied far beyond the limited zone currently proposed.

If you want to highlight the problem of air pollution, Stop Killing Cyclists are holding an Air Pollution Protest outside the Department for Transport on the 27th April - gathering from 5pm, main  action 6-6:30, join after work, details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1124784950872843/

Zac & Sadiq on bikes

In the run up to the election we'll be looking at what the different candidates are saying. I'm going to start with the men regarded as the front-runners and see what we're hearing at this early stage.

I will cover the other candidates and also how their manifestos develop in the run-up to the election (some would say I'm saving the best candidates until later, you can make up your own mind on that one).

Zac on bikes

I'm starting with the easy one because there's not a lot to say so far - Apart from a few very poorly considered remarks (and here) about roads/cycling, there is very little to go on.

There is one mention of 'encouraging' safer cycling on his website, but no detail. The website seems to have very little content overall: https://backzac2016.com/

If you believe Zac has a credible chance of becoming our next mayor, this is quite a worry.

Sadiq on bikes

This is also easy - Sadiq's office sent me an email setting out his policies! ctrl-c, ctrl-v:

Sadiq is determined to continue the progress in making cycling safer in London. He believes making cycling safer for more Londoners will ease pressure on our public transport system, as well as it being a greener and healthier way of getting around our city.
A list of the things Sadiq wants to do include:

• Roll out the Twenty’s Plenty initiative to reduce average speeds on the capital’s residential roads
• Target investment on completing works to tackle the capital’s most dangerous junctions, making them safer for road vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
• Pedestrianise Oxford Street and part-pedestrianise Parliament Square
• Establish a Public Realm Committee, to lead on how we can further improve public spaces across the capital, getting a better balance between all road users
• Investigate the merits of car free weekends in central London, along the lines of that adopted successfully by Paris
• Working with cycling groups, local authorities, TfL and businesses to identify ways of cutting the number of the most dangerous lorries from London’s roads at the busiest times
• Continued investment in cycling provision, including the next generation of Cycle Superhighways, further investment in Quietways and town centre improvement schemes, looking at how we can expand the cycle hire scheme, and enhanced cycle storage on street in residential areas, and in new office developments
• Further work to bust some of London’s physical barriers, such as the backing the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf cycling and pedestrian bridge 

On top of this, Sadiq wants to tackle pollution on London’s streets, making them cleaner and safer for all users, by:

• Widening the area covered by the Ultra Low Emission Zone and investigating bringing forward the introduction from 2020
• Only wanting to buy electric or hydrogen buses by 2020, thus reducing diesel emissions by the TfL fleet 
• Planting 2 million trees, centred primarily on schools and colleges

Sadiq believes this package will bring about a marked improvement on London’s roads and he looks forward to the opportunity of implementing them, and hearing more from groups like the London Road Safety Council, on what more we can do.

I think there's lot here which indicates Sadiq has ambitions to improve conditions for Londoners to cycle (my question also mentioned air pollution).

Several of these items are concerned with finishing Boris' unfinished business (safer junctions, Cycle Superhighways, Quietways) which is a very necessary and important task. On all of these programmes there have been concerns about the length of time needed to implement and, for Quietways, there are real worries about some very inadequate schemes being put forward. These are key improvements to cycling, so we will need Sadiq to set out how he can do a better job than Boris has done.

It would also be great to know who might be our next cycling commissioner(s), so I've asked that very question. I will let you know if I get an answer!

P.s. I like trees but am disappointed that in the top three items on the air pollution which affects the health of tens of thousands of Londoners, there is a measure which is literally ineffective green-washing. This is a really big issue for the health of children and the elderly and it seems Sadiq's team haven't got to grips with it yet :-(

Call on the Mayor and GLA to End Lorry Danger

Dear Friends,

7 out of the 8 cyclist fatalities this year have involved HGVs [1]. Much more could be done to protect cyclists and pedestrians from lorry danger:

• A rush hour lorry ban. When we asked earlier this year over half of our supporters wanted a lorry ban in the rush hour [2] when 40% of cycling fatalities involving lorries occur. 
• Construction industry HGVs have killed 5 cyclists this year already [3]. The construction industry must adopt 'CLOCS' safety standards to prevent further deaths. These standards should be made mandatory in every public section construction contract in London.
• Confidential reporting of bad practice needs to be rolled out to all HGV drivers, irrespective of whether their employer wants to take part [3].
  
• Stronger enforcement. Operators must never be allowed to put profits before lives by allowing unlicensed, untrained lorry drivers, or unsafe vehicles, to operate on our roads.

These urgent measures are the starting point for a target of zero lorry deaths on our streets. Safe segregated routes will be key to eventually eliminating road danger but we must start with action to save lives in 2015 not 2025.

Please forward this message along with your own demand for action to:
mayor@london.gov.uk; jennette.arnold@london.gov.uk; caroline.pidgeon@london.gov.uk; darren.johnson@london.gov.uk; campaignsbyyou@38degrees.org.uk

This list includes all the parties represented in the GLA. We need to make sure HGV danger is firmly on the agenda as the parties look forward to the next mayoral election. We will be publishing their responses so please copy us in.

Kind regards,

Fred

---
References:
[1] - www.london24.com/news/cycling/london_cycle_deaths_2015_1_3964719
[2] - When we asked earlier this year over half of our supporters wanted a ban in the rush hour: http://saveourcyclists.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/supporter-survey-2015-responses.html
[3] - http://saveourcyclists.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/higher-safety-standards-needed-for.html

Will London's mayoral candidates support Space4Cycling?

With Labour's national leadership contest all over the news their London leadership race has slipped under the radar. However if you live in London this could be quite a big thing - the winner of this contest will help set the debate in the run up to the mayoral elections and could even replace Boris as the next mayor.

So it seems like a good time to review where the different parties sit on cycling commitments and also to return to a subject I've discussed before - Labour's sometimes lukewarm attitude to cycling.

Where do the different parties sit on Space4Cycling?

The Space4Cycling campaign was run over a year ago for the local elections. Although the responses only record support for the campaign and not the candidates' other policies, the results are stark:

Party	Elected  Councillors	Support    S4C	Percentage
Labour	1060	649	61%
Conservative	612	112	18%
Lib Dem	116	69	59%
Green	5	5	100%
UKIP	12	1	8%
Other	47	27	57%

This shows Labour councillors form a significant majority of those supporting Space4Cycling and the percentage support is greater than all other parties except for the Green Party. The Lib Dems and independent candidates have slightly lower support rates.

Fewer than 1 in 5 Conservative candidates supported Space4Cycling (three times less than Labour). It is important to note that there are several vocal Conservatives cycling advocates, notably Boris Johnson who has overseen implementation of the most ambitious cycling plans London has seen to date.

Irrespective of the candidates' other policies it is clear the LCC and cycling campaigners have not been able to reach and engage with the Conservative party effectively. From experience most mayoral elections have been two horse races and it seems that cycling campaigners in London need to do more to get Conservative supporters and politicians supporting cycling.

Only a single UKIP councillor supported Space4Cycling and at the other end of the spectrum the Green Party fully supported the campaign.

Election for leader of London Labour

It's too late to sign up as a supporter but cyclists in London who signed up for the national leadership election will soon be able to vote in London's race. This is a chance for cyclists to send a clear message to the London Labour Party demanding ambitious plans and aspirations for cycling.

At this point I should say that I am not a member of the Labour Party, however I did spend the £3 to become a 'supporter' so I could put in a vote for Christian Wolmar and his cycling advocacy.

Wolmar has stood with a strong pro-cycling stance addressing many of the key issues faced by cyclists in London. I have copied his cycling manifesto below and if you're able to vote in the upcoming selection process consider putting Wolmar at the top of your list of preferences. He says:

I know the problems faced by cyclists. I am a lifelong cyclist and covered 3,500 miles on London’s roads last year and I was a board member of Cycling England until its abolition.

Cycling will be at the heart of my transport policy. There are 600,000 cycle journeys in London every day, representing a key mode of transport. It is vital that London is made safe for cyclists of all ages and abilities so that more people can enjoy this fantastic means of getting round London

So I will:

1. Create a network of Dutch style segregated lanes
2. Encourage local cycling schemes by funding ‘mini Holland’ type schemes in every borough
3. Endorse a ‘vision zero’ on road deaths
4. Ban HGV traffic at peak times on busy cycling routes
5. Introduce a 20 mph limit that is properly enforced
6. Build a cycle bridge across the Thames in the east, and scrap the Garden Bridge
7. Extend the cycle hire scheme to more boroughs and reduce the cost
8. Ensure cyclists are at the heart of every road junction redesign
9. Create 50,000 new cycle parking spaces
10. Keep cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan to give the programme continuity

Potential conflict of interest to be reviewed by TfL's lawyers

Following our emails to the members of the London Assembly I will be publishing the responses in the order they come in. If you have received a response not listed here, please add it in the comments at the bottom of the page.

The first response I received was from Murad Qureshi AM, as follows:

Dear Fred, 

I agree with your analysis of this conflict of interest for Peter Anderson, hence why l have sent the following letter below to TfL lawyers. 

Murad Qureshi AM

His email to Howard Carter reads:

Dear Howard, 

I write to you in your capacity as General Counsel for TfL. 

It has been drawn to my attention that Peter Anderson the Finance Director of Canary Group PLC is also the Chair of TfL Finance & Policy Committee. 

Following recent media reports that Canary Wharf Group PLC has initiated extensive and anonymous briefings which are critical of TfL’s Cycle Superhighway Plans, are you satisfied that his role is not conflicted in making decisions over the investment into Super Cycle Highways? 

Murad Qureshi AM