Conservative Motion for February Council 2022: Road Charging

Road charging non-strategic theme motion

Council recognises that since 2018 the Labour administration has introduced new parking taxes that: 

1. Impose new charges on residents in wards where there are no Labour councillors;  
2. Do not work, as taxing parking cars does not reduce pollution; 
3. Has hit those on low incomes the hardest; 
4. Has had a negative impact on families, the elderly and those who need care; 
5. Has not led to a significant reduction in emission levels in Merton.    

Council is therefore deeply concerned about new proposals from the Mayor of London to: 

1. Expand the ULEZ to all of Greater London; 
2. Introduce a compulsory daily clean air charge for all petrol and diesel vehicles in Greater London; 
3. Introduce a new boundary charge on vehicles travelling into Greater London.   

Council recognises that the new proposals from the Mayor of London will: 

• Hit the residents with the lowest incomes the hardest;  
• Threaten Merton’s economic recovery from the pandemic by unnecessarily harming businesses; 
• Do nothing to tackle the pollution crisis which has gone unaddressed by the Mayor of London and the Labour administration. 

Council calls upon the Leader of the Council to write to the Mayor of London to request that he abandons his damaging new proposals to unnecessarily tax Merton residents and harm the borough’s economic recovery.  

Cllr Nick McLean               Cllr Daniel Holden            Cllr Thomas Barlow