AIR WE GO AGAIN

Ultra-low emissions zones are spreading all around the UK in a bid to improve air quality. Here's how you could be affected

- Claire Evans

IF YOU LIVE or work in Greater London, it will soon become prohibitively expensive to drive an older car. From August, the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is expanding to cover most of the area inside the M25 motorway, encompassing around 600 square miles of territory and all 32 London boroughs. Owners of cars that don't meet the required emissions standards.  broadly speaking, most diesels registered before September 2015 and petrols sold before January 2006 - will have to pay to drive in the zone.

The ULEZ represented the next step after the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was introduced across Greater London in 2008, penalising higher polluting vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes. The Government introduced the ULEZ in April 2019 in the wake of a 2017 court case brought by environmental lawyer group ClientEarth concerning poor air quality in British cities.

Initially, the ULEZ covered only the City of London and part of the central city - the same area as the Congestion Charge zone. It was expanded in October 2021 to include everything inside the North Circular and South Circular roads. At 236 square miles, it's home to 3.8 million people and the largest zone of its kind in Europe.

After its expansion on 29 August, the ULEZ will cover the majority of land within the M25. It will stretch as far north as Enfield, east to Rainham, west to Uxbridge and south to Croydon, but some areas, such as Chigwell, Epsom and Watford, won't be affected.

London isn't the only British city to levy a fee to deter more polluting vehicles from using its roads. Eleven other clean air zones are already in operation around England and Scotland. (see over the page for more), with at least two more in the pipeline.