Bromley roads run by TfL can still fine motorists with ULEZ cameras

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Bromley council plans to oppose Transport for London’s (TfL) ULEZ expansion, but a map with roads owned by TfL shows motorists will still be fined for using some routes.

Three main roads in Bromley are run by TfL, meaning permission will not be needed by Bromley council to install cameras on these routes.

The three roads owned by TfL in Bromley include the A20 running from Lewisham through Chislehurst, the A21 from Catford through Orpington, and the A232 through Croydon.

Overall, TfL runs five per cent of London’s roads.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is set to expand this August, with motorists being charged £12.50 a day for driving in the area if their car or van is not environmentally friendly enough.

TfL has asked London councils to let the transport body install ULEZ cameras – but several have opposed the plan.

Conservative councillor Colin Smith, leader of Bromley council, said in a statement on the ULEZ expansion: “The decision to blatantly ignore a significant majority opinion of Londoners who responded to TfL’s consultation exercise, based on the highly questionable, selective and incomplete findings of a research paper commissioned by TfL themselves, simply cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged.

“To that end, Bromley council, along with Bexley, Harrow and Hillingdon, is currently examining the legal basis of the decision and have now formally served a Pre Action Protocol letter on the Mayor’s office and TfL seeking further information to demonstrate the lawfulness of the decision they have made.”

Bromley council announced on Thursday that it planned to challenge the ULEZ expansion in court, in a joint statement with Bexley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils.

A spokeswoman said: “Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon will not sign the Section 8 agreement with TfL while legal advice is being taken.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on January 30 that he was launching a £110million vehicle scrappage scheme to entice drivers.

He said: “Outer London residents wanted more buses, so I announced a million kilometres of more buses – the biggest expansion in Outer London in history.

“Also, residents in Outer London, sole traders and small businesses were saying ‘we’d like to keep our van, rather than scrapping it, we’d like to retrofit it,’ so we listened to those residents, and now for the first time ever you can get £5,000 towards a retrofit scheme.

“Then, residents in Outer London said ‘look, we don’t want to replace a polluting vehicle with a less polluting vehicle’, we’d like to have bus usage or tram usage.

“So the new scheme gives you money towards scrapping your vehicle and two free bus and tram travel passes for an entire year.”

Pictured top: A map of the roads running through Bromley that are owned by TfL (Picture: Transport for London)