Do you support the ULEZ expansion?

[icecream99]

Just curious as it is due to start at midnight tonight and could potentially cause a lot of chaos. I don't support it.

YANBU - I DON'T support ULEZ expansion

YABU - I DO support ULEZ expansion

I live in Central London. There are a lot of private vehicles. The major road about 100 yards from me is choked with traffic from 7am-9.30am and again from about 4.30pm to 7pm. It's not all buses and taxis and plumbers. If the council hadn't put in measures against it, they'd be rat-running down my road.

I don't have a car but so many of my neighbours do that it's not that easy to find a parking space. I don't understand why so many of them need cars but they must have their reasons and not many of them are because they are disabled, have several small children at different primary schools or need to run old ladies to the hospital or church. As far as I can see, many of the cars aren't used for work because they stay in the same spot and are used at weekends, if at all. Most people who live here use public transport or walk to work. That's what I do on the days I work in an office.

I don't mind about my neighbours' cars because they are all Ulez-compliant (it came in here in 2019) and pay the other costs of driving like the Congestion Charge (I think residents get a discount), tax, insurance, residents' parking etc.

But where do you get the idea that no one drives a private car in Central London unless they have no other choice? That's not the evidence I see every day.

Well like I said, there are legitimate ways to avoid having to pay.

they'd be rat-running down my road

They'd be driving down my road.

There...fixed that for you.

I mean really... imagine living in central London then complaining that people drive down your road. You couldn't make it up!

Is it a bit like living on the South Circular and complaining that pollution is killing your kids?

The PP would have every right to complain if her street was clogged with traffic, she also has the right to be pleased that something has been done about it. Just like someone living on the South Circular has the right to complain about pollution and the right to want something done about it.

Just because one lives in a city (which may not have been through choice) it doesn't mean that one should expect to live in congested misery.

I live very very close to the South circular...I don't worry at all about pollution.

But the thing is when you close roads, all you do is push the traffic elsewhere...it's just pointless

@DdraigGoch One way or the other, cars are the problem and the solution is to discourage them.

Exactly.

You have good ideas and they exist where I live. I live off a major road, which is also residential on either side with a mix of old, middle and young, and includes a small inpatient mental health hospital and sheltered accommodation for elderly and disabled people. There's also a well-attended church and community centre and some restaurants and pubs.

If you moved there now you'd know what the traffic was like but there is a large housing estate fronting the road which was built in the 1950s on a bombsite when the traffic was nothing like it is now. I imagine some of the older residents have been there from the Sixties and Seventies when the traffic was much calmer too so it's a nonsense to say people knew what they were getting into or that things shouldn't change to help them now that our knowledge of air pollution is much better.

As I said, I'm away from the main road which isn't as busy as the South Circular where that little girl Ella lived, but not far off it. My own street runs directly off it and is quiet but that's only because the council have installed measures to prevent rat-running. Otherwise we'd be plagued by it. We still get the air pollution, just not the noise, dirt and idiots who complain about having to drive at 20mph in residential streets as if it's infringing their freedom. Why shouldn't my council act on my behalf to make my life better just so someone can shave a bit of time off their journey or act in "freedom"?

That point brings me to "15 minute cities". I live in one but only realised it a few years ago when people started muttering about a shadowy cabal who wanted to control us. I just thought it was really good to be able to walk to doctors; dentists; schools (primary and one secondary); shops; restaurants and pubs; a public and private swimming pool; public and private gyms - there's even a cinema here now.

If I want to go further afield, I can by walking if I am feeling energetic or using public transport if not. It's as you said, I'm not banned from doing it - I can do anywhere in this country and even abroad on public transport, and why wouldn't anyone want that?

I actually used to work a 10-minute walk from home. I used to walk 35 minutes to another office. I could have got the bus in slightly less time but because of roadworks and traffic it was easier and much more pleasant to walk across the park giving my cardiovascular system and mental health a work out. Also I liked the ducks on the pond. I'd only get the bus if it was very rainy or cold. I was much fitter when I worked there and I didn't even have to try.

Why shouldn't my council act on my behalf to make my life better

Bless you for believing that

Do you mean VED? It's not a tax to "use the roads", it's a tax for powered vehicles based on their CO2 emissions. Electric vehicles pay no VED. Based on your logic, they have no right to an opinion on road policy either? Based on your logic, those who pay the most VED have the most right to an opinion on road policy - the cars which pay most VED are Bentleys, Ferrari, Rolls Royces, Maseratis...

I freely admit that I am selfish in that I don't want people from outside the area driving down my residential streets making it hazardous for old people and children to cross; running over my cat and making my windows dirty.

You are selfish in that you want the freedom to do all that.

Unfortunately for you my council have decided that it's Me 1: You: Nil so you are going to have to stick to the main road.

But people do drive down my road and I don't give a shit. I also drive down other peoples roads. I mean this is hardly news. Oh and lol that you think the council cares

@Comedycook I also live very near the South circular - you really really should be worried about air pollution. More so that "them" trying to take away your precious freedoms that is for sure.

I don't want people from outside the area

Very interested in this phrase by the way. What do you class as outside the area?

So did I once. Both children had asthma. The primary schools they went to had inhalers for any child to use if they displayed symptoms.

I moved. My children no longer have problems breathing or asthma symptoms. The south circular is a major source of pollution as far as I am concerned.

Don't inhalers have to be prescribed by a doctor?

Building roads grows traffic, closing roads shrinks it. Some people have no choice but to drive - plenty do have choices though and making driving harder and more expensive changes behaviour.

I obviously got them prescribed by a doctor. But the school had their own. The pollution levels were severe.

Several children in the street where I lived had the same symptoms. One required hospital treatment. Less than half a mile away from the South Circular and when the pollution levels were measured in the school they were well above WHO limits.

It was a significant reason for moving and it's part of the reason I support the expansion

Yes I realise your inhalers were prescribed by a doctor. I'm asking how a school can get hold of inhalers to be used by the pupils?

I'm under no illusions about local democracy but it's the only system I have.

I might go for civil disobedience up to criminal damage but would be prepared to take the consequences as people vandalising the Ulez cameras also should. I would not take violent action.

I imagine you would say the same - wouldn't you?

The anti-rat running scheme was brought in by a Conservative council in response to concerns by local residents 30 years ago. Selfish drivers were making our lives very unhappy. They also tightened up the residents' parking scheme. Once they demanded more stringent evidence of residence the availability of parking spots improved by about a third because people were unable to sell "their" spots making it easier for genuine residents.

I was mostly happy with the Tories' running of the borough - I live in a waste management paradise and the millions they collected in parking fees - not fines, but fees for outsiders wanting to park in my borough - contributes to my low council tax and high amenities.

I've always voted Labour and they won in the last local election. As long as they keep up the good work with recycling and keep people like you away from driving on residential roads I will vote for them again.

Just like I will with Sadiq Khan and his measures to reduce pollution and collect money to pump into improved public transport.

What do you think about parking fees on public roads? Do you think you should be able to avoid them? If so, why?

I strongly oppose it and both myself and my son have asthma

@Comedycook - are you really asking me to understand school admin? I haven't a clue

My dc school were incredibly strict about giving children medication.

keep people like you away from driving on residential roads

What do you mean people like me?

Every road near me is residential...it's suburban london. There are cars driving all over the place....people like me I guess. Do you never drive on roads with houses or flats on them?

Btw its slightly better where I live now, but my local council is opposed to expansion along with any regulation of private car traffic. While driving is fine, what's not fine is the resistance to speed limits or making better provision for alternative forms of transport. However realistically that will never change under a Conservative council so looking to move again! High traffic levels make it less pleasant to be here along with related pollution.

In this instance people who come from outside my area who do not agree to comply with the rules imposed by an authority democratically elected by a majority of voters in my area.

Anti rat-running measures are not a new thing. They make life tolerable for residents who live off busy roads.

You can do whatever you like but you have to follow the rules or take the consequences. Vote against them in the next election and avoid the area and suck it up in the meantime.