PRIESTS working on the edge of Greater London have mixed feelings about the proposed expansion of the city’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), praising the aim of the policy but questioning how it is being implemented as they speak the effect that it would have on their communities.
From 29 August 2023, the ULEZ — which currently covers only central London boroughs — will be expanded to cover the whole of Greater London. Cars that do not meet certain emissions standards will be charged £12.50 for each day on which they drive into the zone.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, defended the policy last month after it attracted resistance from local councils and community groups. He said that there was a “silent majority who support it”, and that it was necessary to improve air quality.
Several priests working on the border of the expanded zone, however, have spoken to the Church Times of their ambivalence about the plans.
The Vicar of St Mary the Virgin, Chessington, the Revd Scott Edwards, acknowledged the benefits that it could bring, saying that “if the scheme improves air quality then that is a good and positive thing. Air pollution is a serious problem, and the desire to tackle it is a laudable one.”
He suggested that “the speed with which the expansion is being introduced is . . . having a negative impact for some of the members of my church and local community.”
The Vicar of St Michael’s, Wilmington, the Revd Carl Chambers, described the expansion of ULEZ as amounting to a “tax on friendship”. St Michael’s is situated just outside of the expanded ULEZ, but the closest crematorium is on the other side of the new boundary, meaning that mourners, as well as the priest conducting the service, will have to pay the charge if they drive to the funeral in a non-compliant car.
This is a situation faced by many priests whose ministry straddles the new border. The Team Rector in the Vale of Roding Team Ministry, the Revd Charles Kosla, said that because several churches in the Vale of Roding lay outside the zone, he would “have to be careful, especially when visiting or conducting a funeral”.
He currently drives a diesel car that does not meet the required emissions standards, and would have to look into buying a new vehicle. “Any help forthcoming from the C of E?” he asked.
Only vehicles that produce emissions above a certain threshold are liable for the charge. The Transport for London (TfL) website says that most petrol cars produced since 2005 and most diesel cars made since 2015 are compliant with the minimum standards.
Mr Chambers said that he bought a second-hand diesel car seven years ago, and, although it is relatively fuel-efficient, it falls below the required emissions standards. As a result, he faces a £12.50 charge every time he travels to the crematorium, takes his son to the gym, or visits a parishioner who lives within the ULEZ.
Mr Chambers said that he was “very sympathetic to ULEZ”, but that “doing it in central London is very different from out here in the outskirts,” referring to the lack of public transport in outer London and the Home Counties as a significant factor.
Mr Khan has pledged that bus routes in outer London will be improved, and a million kilometres added to the network by August, with a further million kilometres next year.
Mr Chambers said, however, that the expansion was “too far, too fast”, and that it would particularly disadvantage people who could not afford to upgrade their vehicle. “Who’s going to find several thousand pounds just to go and find another car?” he asked.
A new £110 million “scrappage” scheme for Londoners was launched in January, offering payments to people to upgrade their cars, and Mr Khan has called on the Government to provide an equivalent scheme for those living in the Home Counties who frequently drive into London.
The co-founder of Christian Climate Action, Holly-Anna Petersen, told the Church Times that the expansion of the ULEZ was “progress”.
“There are few things that are fundamental to us as human beings, and one of those is clean air to breathe. Access to that is a basic human right. Without it, we see increases in asthma, heart conditions, and more,” Ms Peterson said.
She referred to the socio-economic aspects of the debate: “It has to be acknowledged that the ULEZ issue is largely one that is an issue of wealth. Around a third of homes in the bottom income quintile don’t have a car. This is almost seven times higher than homes in the top income quintile.
“What this means is that it is largely those who are more well off who are pushing to continue driving dirty cars around London, and largely those less wealthy who are having to walk their children to school in smoggy neighborhoods.”
Ms Petersen cited a campaign by the mother of Ella Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl from Lewisham, in south-east London, who died in February 2013. In 2020, the coroner said that exposure to high levels of nitrogen dioxide from vehicle emissions had contributed to her death.
“Science has shown us that these dirty vehicles are needlessly making people ill. We have the solutions — cycling, public transport, cleaner vehicles. There’s always people who are against change, but that doesn’t mean it’s not right.”
In 2017, children from St Anselm’s, Kennington Cross, in south-east London, launched a “clean air pledge” (News, 9 June 2017).
The Team Rector of North Lambeth, Canon Angus Aagaard, said last week that the expansion of the ULEZ was “a good step in the right direction, although air pollution is still a real threat here in central London”.
A peer-reviewed report from TfL, published on 10 February, says that, since the ULEZ first came into place in central London in April 2019, nitrogen dioxide concentrations in the area are estimated to have been reduced by 46 per cent.
The Vicar of St Peter’s, Iver, in Buckinghamshire, the Revd Robert Gooding, said on Tuesday that he felt “conflicted” about the expansion of ULEZ. “My wife and I have always been passionate about the environment,” he said. The scheme would not directly affect them, as they both drove electric cars.
Other members of the church community would be affected, though: the parish’s non-stipendiary minister lived in Uxbridge, and would incur the charge whenever she travelled to the church.
“It will be costing her a significant amount of money just to carry out the ministry that God has called her to, and which she carries out on an unpaid basis,” he said. Also, the local bus service was “not as good as it could be”.
He continued: “There are no easy answers to this issue, and, although air quality is certainly a serious matter that needs to be addressed, I can’t help thinking that now is not the right time to be expanding the ULEZ scheme, as it will disproportionately impact those who are struggling more than most in the current cost of living crisis.”
Mr Kosla also confesses to having “mixed feelings” about the expansion. “Social media locally is very much against the expansion, with just a handful in favour,” Mr Kosla observed.
BBC News reports that county councils in Essex, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, and Kent have said that they will oppose the installation of the cameras and signs needed to enforce the ULEZ.
The London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, and Hillingdon have written to the Mayor expressing their opposition to being incorporated into the expanded low-emission zone.
The Area Dean for Tanbridge, the Revd Michelle Edmonds, agreed that the “general feeling about this is negative, although I can understand wanting to make the air cleaner”.
She expressed concern that the expansion of the ULEZ would particularly affect those such as carers, who have to travel for work but who were “not well paid and who may not be able to afford a new car”.
Mr Edwards said: “As a vicar, I would love to be able to replace my car with a more environmentally friendly one, but cannot afford to do so, and my church cannot afford to cover the cost of the daily charge on my travel expenses.”
He is moving to a new post in the diocese of Lichfield, but members of his current congregation in Chessington, in south-west London, will. “I have an elderly gentleman who has told me that, as a result of the ULEZ expansion, he will have to give up driving, and is upset at how that will reduce his independence. That causes me some considerable sadness,” Mr Edwards said. “The ULEZ expansion is in many regards a positive thing, but I do wonder if it could have been implemented in a more thought-out way.”