City Hall is offering small businesses up to £15,000 to scrap or retrofit polluting heavy vehicles ahead of “tougher” new Low Emission Zone standards coming into effect next March.
The new scrappage scheme follows an earlier scheme which saw 5,000 polluting vans taken off the capital’s roads.
The new LEZ standards will require heavy vehicles to meet Euro VI emissions standards for both PM and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). They were originally due to come into effect next month but, in light of the pandemic, were delayed for at least four months.
Following a review, it’s been confirmed that they’ll come in on 1 March 2021.
Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Shirley Rodrigues, said: “The Ultra Low Emission Zone has already cut toxic air by more than a third and with tighter Low Emission Zone standards due to come in next year we want to ensure there is help for businesses and charities switching coaches or lorries to cleaner greener vehicles.
“While we’re doing all we can in the capital, we now need the Government to match our levels of ambition and provide targeted national scrappage funding that supports all those small businesses who want to do the right thing and switch to cleaner vehicles across the UK.”
