Dartford council leader says ULEZ expansion is destroying businesses

It comes a year on since the Ultra Low Emission Zone was expanded to the Kent Border.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00Well, it's been one year since the EULES border was expanded to North Kent, and right now

00:04I'm standing just on that border.

00:06One side of this road is within it, one side of the road is not.

00:10And many people are wondering how much longer.

00:13Businesses in Dartford are forking out large sums of money to pay for new cars, and some

00:18are even getting rid of the idea of going into London at all.

00:22Now, EULES originated just in London in 2019, within central London specifically.

00:28After two years, it was then expanded further out to the North and South Circular, and then

00:33after two years in 2023, it came here.

00:36Now, by this point, most of you probably know that any car pre-2001 is not compliant within

00:43the EULES zone, meaning you had to pay a fee of £12.50 to travel.

00:47Well, earlier I spoke to Dartford Council leader Jeremy Kite about the impact that local

00:53people are feeling still a year on.

00:57Well, people are having to cope, and I'm actually not sure what a review would do.

01:00The mayor of London has made it very clear it's not going anywhere, EULES.

01:03It's a massive cash earner for him.

01:05I don't see it going anywhere.

01:06So people are coping, but it's not a very good scenario.

01:09At the end of the day, we've got small businesses in Dartford who are trying to make their way,

01:13ordinary working men and women, and what they're finding is that they can't afford to have

01:16customers in London, or even in Craeford.

01:18I mean, this is the point.

01:19We're not talking about going into central London, we're talking about Craeford, which

01:22is literally just 100 yards in that direction from our border.

01:25So, it's very frustrating for people.

01:27Well, Sadiq Khan said the move was one of the toughest decisions he had made, but was

01:32necessary to address the capital's dirty air.

01:35According to the London-wide EULES six-month report published at the end of July this year,

01:40pollutant emissions across the capital in 2023 are dramatically lower than expected

01:45if the zone had not been expanded.

01:47Meanwhile, millions of pounds worth of EULES fines are also going unpaid, despite threats

01:52from bailiffs, and many cameras are being vandalised, especially in Kent.

01:57Finn McDermid for KMTV in Dartford.