London Mayor Sadiq Khan is pressing on with his plans for the Ulez expansion across the whole of the capital, in spite of the backlash against the scheme.

Five London councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon along with Surrey County Council – lost a High Court challenge against the scheme, which they launched amid concerns residents won’t be able to afford the £12.50 daily fee.

The recent Labour defeat in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election also led to a backlash, with party leader Keir Starmer blaming Ulez for the fact they failed to take the seat from the Conservatives.

Khan has now called upon the Government for extra funding for a more generous scrappage scheme – the same that they have given to other cities including Bristol and Bradford for their own clean air zones.

 ‘All we are asking for is fairness and that London gets the same.

‘It’s not right that the government hasn’t provided a penny for Londoners while giving so much to other cities,’ he said.

Of course Ulez has already cost a considerable amount of money to implement.

But ahead of asking for more funding, how much money has already been spent on it?

How much money has already been spent on Ulez?

Although there is no exact figure available for this, TFL has said the set-up costs to expand the ULEZ are estimated to reach £140 million.

A Freedom Of Information request made to TFL in 2021 saw them put the estimated cost of the expansion as between £120-£130m.

‘This cost includes improved access to public transport, staffing and the signs, cameras and back office systems needed to make the scheme operational,’ the answer to the request read.

‘The Mayor and TfL have sought to deliver the infrastructure needed to operate the scheme in the most cost-effective way possible.’

Transport for London added that Mr Khan had at that stage asked for funding from the national Clean Air Fund, from which London was excluded.

‘Other cities, including Bath, Birmingham, Greater Manchester and Portsmouth have introduced or will introduce Clean Air Zones, including financial support for affected individuals and businesses, entirely funded by Government,’ they said.

How much money has Ulez brought in so far?

Again exact figures of how much it has generated since it was first implemented are not clear – but the scheme generated an eye-watering nine-figure sum in 2022.

A Freedom of Information request found it generated £224,633,003 in those 12 months – an average of £18.7 million a month.

Data obtained by the BBC found around a third of the £224 million sum came from penalty charge notices, with the rest made up of daily charge payments.

Transport for London (TfL) says the cash has been spent on ‘set-up costs’ for the expansion and ‘running and improving’ the rest of the network.

Of this sum, ULEZ daily charges made £151.3 million, while penalty charges generated £73.3 million.

MORE : Drivers are using map apps in little-known trick to avoid hefty ULEZ charges

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