Cleaning up London’s toxic air

The illegally modified exhausts coming from cars within the Havering Borough not only emits horrendous noise because of the car's modification but these cars also release harmful pollution into the environment. One car I noticed had misty and dark smoke coming from its exhaust, this is an environmental hazzard. With Havering Council being a London Assembly member it needs to be told and have demands they should fine drivers or have the cars seized by local enforcement, this is what City Hall need to discuss at meetings and this has to happen urgently.

How can the Mayor make London a zero carbon city when he allows vehicles with higher emissions to enter the ULEZ?
The purported reasoning behind the extension of the ULEZ was to safeguard citizens health and cut down the number of deaths caused by these toxic
emissions!
So, in simple terms, it's not OK to add to these illnesses for free but if you are willing to pay £12.50 per day then it's OK to pay for the privilege!
It totally defies logic and makes the whole exercise a farce and a money making exercise!
Mr Mayor, if you truly care about these people then you should put a complete ban on any vehicles entering the ULEZ which do not fit the criteria for entering the zone!
Rather than charging for unsuitable vehicles entering the zone, you could penalise those that do and the penalties could be made to fit the crime!

That however would increase the need for far better transport links. Not everyone has the ability to ride a bike so we need alternative options and fast!

The Mayor of London has caused more Pollution.

1/ Filling in Bus Lay-bys so when the Bus Stops all the Traffic Stops (See what a broken down car does on a road when it blocks a a lane)
2/ Playing around with Traffic Light Sequencing so you only get a few cars through the lights & get stopped at the next set straight before you even got into 3rd gear.
2/ Charge 50% More Parking for a Diesel Euro 6 cleanest diesel. But London Councils charge 50% for a Old Diesel is not on! When you park you turn off the Engine. So why your London Councils treating older vehicles the same as New?
3/ Cycle Lanes that cause congestion & Stop Emergencies Vehicles getting through is so wrong
3/ 20mph Zones that companies have to put more vehicles on the roads to do the same amount of work as one driver used too.
4/ Wimbledon putting in 20MPH on major roads that used to be 40mph & 30mph Main A Roads
5/ Letting shops have no doors on them so they burn Gas/Electric to heat or cool the High Street (Selfridges have a lobby for a reason like older shops and shade the windows to conserve Heat & Cooling
(If it was environment & not money making 1st for the Major he would be charging more for Shops with No Main Doors or Bigger Shops with Lobby)
6/ The Mayor is deliberately & knowingly causing Pollution Traffic problems with his Traffic Light system Scoot/Altering junctions/Road closures/Taking away Bus Lay-by's/Cycle Lanes that hold up the traffic/20Mph speed Limits. He should be in Court to answer these questions!

Slower we all move around London the more Company's up their hourly Rate and pass it on to the Business or Home Owner.
Hourly Rate for company's have gone up by £40Per Hr since the Cycle Lanes & 20mph have been bought in by the Mayor as you can't get around London to service customers and Tradesman's can't put their tools & material on a Push Bike.

You can't run a City on a Push Bike!!

Been a Tradesman since 1986 in London and the the Major of London has made things worse.

Im not up to speed with technology but give me an electric car that can be charged if i find parking streets away from where i live. Life without a car, tired to order Uber and Bolt when needed wait was too long, the individual cost of travel verses a single family car is high .... if someone has anxiety and/or struggles in public spaces public transport is challenging, if a family member needs to go to A&E cabs wont always take you a car is needed or call 999 and add to the queue for taxi ambulances, needing to do multiple visits in and out of London in a single day/night, a car is needed, families often dont live in the same area anymore therefore travel to support and connect is vital. Online food deliveries, hit and miss if you can get a slot ..i am pro walking but unable to carry lots of shopping .. I wanted to insulate my house but recent changes to boilers and energy etc has stopped me as I have no idea what to do any more and the cost is not affordable. Had a bike, had many ... all stolen.Family of 5 living in a 1 bed flat ... a car offers additional storage and sleeping space :) . Travel on Christmas day.... forget it....need a car otherwise home alone which is the result on my family this year due to having no car and no tube and trains or a doubled journey time in both directions and an access individual cost where as my car journey if i had it would have been less than 10.00. Get on a bus with luggage and bags etc, you get shouted at .... luggage, bikes, dogs, wheel chairs. If you live on the same street as your family, near the tube and train (to the airport :)) as my friend with many shops and local parks and a good hospital a life with no car is great

Old planning rules that don’t allow for bike storage in front gardens are adversely influencing people’s choice of transport. Apparently the area I live in has a high risk of flash flooding due to climate change. I can enter my postcode into a government site that gives me this data so you are aware of it. Could planning rules for conservation areas be moderated (within reason of course) to allow residents to store bikes? This can only facilitate progressive transport choices. Otherwise what exactly are we conserving when future climate scenarios place areas of London under water.

Shutting roads to drivers and causing traffic jams by forcing everyone on to the same single route is not going to help with pollution, keep traffic flowing and the pollution will be reduced. Walking, cycling and public transport is not an option for all and until it’s made safer and more reliable all year round not a viable alternative to most.

Too many eco warriors flying here there and everywhere to protest about people flying and driving wearing their clothes produced on the other side of the world for a pittance.

I walk everywhere or catch the bus. I don't drive anymore at all. It is so much nicer and I feel so much healthier. I am tired of breathing in other people's exhaust fumes, and I think there should be much firmer discouragement from driving unnecessary journeys such as school drop off. My daughter has just completed her school years, and we never drove her there once in her whole life. I walked her there, or she walked on her own or when it was raining caught a bus. It has made her a confident independent person. It would leave the roads freer and quieter for people who are trying to do useful and essential things, such as service, care or general work.

While I agree something has to be done and we all have a part to play in this there’s good and bad points to the charge made for people travelling into london to work - a colleague has to pay £12.50 a day to travel to work in addition to his normal working cost of car insurance fuel and other associated cost to get to work - he works nights so comes in one day leaves the next so over a five night werj has six journeys into the ulez zone costing £75 a week extra to go to work making it uneconomic in the long run to have a job here there no work we’re he lives in outer london and so therefore would have to go on benefits which he wouldn’t be entitled to due to his family circumstances and he’s not the only one in this situation - why is it economically it’s the working classes that suffer at these times of change - no he can’t take transport it’s costly and irregular and takes longer then driving to get to work - can anyone tell me what ge can do to survive in this economic crisis

I do not see how shutting down all the roads helps with pollution or Covid 19.
My journeys are now a nightmare. What about all the residents and schools that are on the roads now deliberately congested?
There is no warning, justification or explanation offered.
I sat looking at the street I had to work in (I am a key worker for electricity board) and I drove round and round. Finally I sat outside and whilst watching the buses and taxis(all diesel) pass through the street, I called the council three times to ask for directions. No surprise they could not tell me the answer. You will blame local councils but when you contact them they blame tfl.
Yet you charging ULEZ and congestion charge and we are getting the pain.
Not happy.
You ask for permits and plans for street furniture yet you put planters randomly in the middle of the street, shut it down and offer no alternative route all over London. Joke. Can't take you seriously an utter disgrace. If you don't want cars or vans ban them but tell me how we keep the lights on? You soon on the phone saying how long until my power is back on.
Fed up.

Yes I have been taking public transport more often and trying to leave the car in home but I live in the outer zones and buses are not always frequent or direct so TfL should work harder to provide a more frequent and better service also having diesel buses is counterintuitive

The introduction of Congestion Charging and ULEZ is simply making London accessible to only the wealthiest people, who will pay the extortionate fees and keep driving their 5 litre engine gas guzzlers.

In the meantime, older diesel run buses and black cabs, which still make up the vast proportion of transport in central London, keep polluting central London as their engines keep running all day, even while stationary. Modern diesel cars, by contrast are fitted with particulate filters, which trap up to 99% of emissions, and emit less CO2 than petrol engine cars.

And in any case, methane is a far bigger problem for global warming than CO2, in fact up to 105 times more potent than CO2! That is where attention should be focussed.

I've stopped eating meat as much

Keep all the temporary cycling lanes and extended pavements for pedestrians. People are less likely to drive if they have good alternatives.

It is becoming increasingly urgent to do something about cars and motorbikes in London. The ULEZ is a step in the right direction but not bold enough. We have to ban internal combustion engines and stop people from driving in zone 1 - 2 as soon as possible. Hundreds of studies have found correlations between traffic emissions and diseases such as asthma, heart and lung ailments, cancer, and more.
People driving in London are filling our lungs with particulates for their comfort and convenience and figures show 98% of schools are in areas with toxic air quality.

if you listen to everyone's arguments:
🚶‍♂️ Pedestrians want to walk without breathing toxic fumes
🚴‍♀️ Cyclists want to use the road without risking their lives
👩‍🔬 Scientists want to have a planet in 20 years
🚘 Drivers want to go to faster

With fewer cars on the road, we'll also have faster bus journeys and better emergency access.

For the ones who still want to drive, the cost should be much higher. Driving in London is cheap only because it is currently heavily subsidised by society. It's time we remove their privileges and stop paying for their comfort and convenience with our health.

The GLA and Mayor should give ordinary Londoners grants for getting thermal blinds or panels for their windows. We have new double glazing, but it was badly installed and the insulation around the windows is now less than it was before. We have mould now under and around windows, even in the heatwaves. We would like to install proper thermal blinds or shutters, and we would like to have areas around the windows stripped of plaster and replastered with a more insulating plaster. But we cannot afford this. These would keep us cool during heatwaves as well as warmer in winter.

The Mayor and GLA should make the ULE Zone 24/7.

I persuaded my landlord to add a layer of insulating plasterboard to a very cold wall that always had mould on it.
Now the room is warmer, there is no mould on that wall, but the plasterboard was only thermally insulation.

The wall now acts as an amplifier, so every time someone uses the stairs on the other side of it, the noise sounds louder than ever in our bedroom.

The Mayor should turn Park Lane into an extension of Hyde Park.