Jason Perry, Croydon’s Tory Mayor, says that his cash-strapped borough doesn’t have enough money to join the Judicial Review legal action being brought by other outer London boroughs against the expansion later this year of ULEZ – the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Air quality control: ULEZ reduces traffic, and pollution. Croydon’s Mayor Perry opposes that
A pro-pollution, Perry-backed motion to oppose ULEZ was recently defeated at a meeting of Croydon’s full council.
Four London boroughs – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils, all Conservative-controlled, as well as Surrey County Council – announced this week that they are seeking a Judicial Review against the ULEZ scheme.
In November, Mayor Perry issued Croydon’s third Section 114 notice in two years – effectively admitting that he would not be able to balance the borough’s budget.
Perry’s reluctance to join the Tory councils’ anti-ULEZ action appears to signal a sharp U-turn by the Mayor over costly legal fees.
Official figures obtained last year showed that Croydon Council spent £2million over two years with a single firm of solicitors.
Last November, the council spent an estimated £20,000 when it sought a High Court injunction against this website because we published documents which the council had already published. Mayor Perry did not intervene on that occasion.
According to the BBC, Croydon’s £81,000 per year Mayor said, “We have been working really closely with the other boroughs all the way through… [but] because of our financial situation we cannot commit to financing a Judicial Review at this time.”
Opting out: Mayor Jason Perry
Pro-pollution Perry has also said that Croydon will refuse to sign an agreement with Transport for London allowing it to install ULEZ cameras – a feeble bit of Mayoral muscle flexing, because he knows that TfL has the power to install two-thirds of the 2,750 necessary cameras for the scheme without seeking permission.
A spokesperson for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “We will be defending any challenge to this vital scheme. The Mayor urges the councils involved to abandon this costly and unnecessary legal challenge and instead focus on the health of those they represent.”
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