Updated: Johnson scraps western congestion charge

Just days after setting out his green strategy for London, Boris Johnson has announced he is to scrap the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge, claiming he is responding to calls from residents and businesses.

The move follows a consultation exercise which found that more than two thirds of individuals and businesses wanted the zone scrapped. Johnson had said before the consultation that he would "listen to the people of London" and has now commenced the legal process to remove the extended zone with a view to charging being scrapped from early 2010.

"During the election I promised Londoners a genuine consultation on the future of the extension," he said. "Londoners have spoken loud and clear, and the majority of people have said that that they would like the scheme scrapped. As a Mayor that keeps his promises, I am instructing Transport for London to begin work on the process of a formal consultation on the removal of the Western Extension."

The five week public consultation had warned that scrapping the extended zone, which was introduced by Johnson's predecessor Ken Livingstone in February 2007, would result in £70m in lost annual revenue for Transport for London and lead to a "significant" increase in congestion and rises in carbon emissions and air pollution.

However, of the nearly 28,000 respondents to the consultation 67 per cent of individuals and 86 per cent of businesses were in favour of the zone being removed, while only 19 per cent of respondents wanted it retained in its current form and 12 per cent wanted it kept following a number of reforms to its operation.

The move bought swift condemnation from green groups who accused Johnson of failing to live up to pledges made earlier this week to the Environment Agency conference to "create a thriving eco-economy in London".

"Didn't Boris Johnson promise to make London a leading city in reducing carbon emissions?" asked Richard Bourn of the Campaign for Better Transport. " This decision is at odds with what he said only a matter of hours beforehand."

He also accused Johnson of "squandering" the capital's global reputation as a leading city in the development of progressive sustainable transport infrastructure and questioned the effectiveness of the consultation process.

"You have to ask what effort was made to reach out to people who travelled through the zone on bike or public transport, who benefitted from the eased congestion but did no necessarily live there," he said.

Alongside the consultation, Transport for London carried out a survey of 2,000 Londoners and 1,000 businesses, which, as Bourne suggested, confirmed wider opposition to the western zone was less pronounced. Just over 40 per cent of members of the public said they wanted the zone scrapped, but 30 per cent said they wanted it retained and 15 per cent said it should be kept, but with changes to the way it operates.

Despite the decision, Johnson insisted he remained committed to tackling congestion and carbon emissions.

"One thing every body should be assured of is my determination to make it easier for Londoners to get around our great city," he said, adding that Transport for London was working on a series of congestion easing measures" include rephasing traffic signals and cracking down hard on the chaos caused by badly planned road works".

A spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office insisted that Johnson remained "fully committed to achieving a 60 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2025" and that detailed plans on how this would be achieved will be published in the new year.

"Ongoing investment in technology such as hybrid and hydrogen buses, encouraging the uptake of low-carbon vehicles and fuels, and reducing power consumption on the Underground and Overground are all helping us to tackle transport related emissions now," she added. "The reality is that the western extension of the congestion charge was never designed as a carbon cutting measure and its impact on carbon emissions is small compared to the scale of what can be achieved through alternative, more robust measures."

However, critics maintain that current initiatives are unlikely to deliver deep cuts without a significant increase in investment, and have noted that since taking office Johnson has scaled back a £4m project to roll out 70 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles across the capital, cut jobs from his environment team and dropped an appeal against the decision to build a energy hundgry desalination plant in east London.