ULEZ high court ruling, timely lesson for London’s far right politics

The high court has dismissed a legal challenge by five Tory-led councils against the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ).
Out of 32 London boroughs, Harrow was one of the four Conservative held London councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon – that along with Surrey County Council had gone for a judicial review challenging the London mayor’s Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion programme.
To help clear up London’s air, the ULEZ is expanding from 29 August 2023 across all London boroughs, including Harrow.
Most petrol vehicles under 16 years old or diesel vehicles under 6 years old meet the emissions standards, and those which do not, have to pay a daily charge £12.50 if driven inside the zone.
The high court challenge, paid by the taxpayers’ money, was apparently instigated by the Harrow Councillor Susan Hall who at the time led the GLA Conservatives group and is in the habit of calling Mayor Khan “a disgrace”.
Later, she stepped down from the post to become the Tory candidate for the London Mayor election next year.
The honourable thing the Tory councillors in the Tory-led London boroughs and their MPs could do is to apologise to the residents for wasting the ratepayer’s money for political gain!
Cllr Hall is known for creating chaos for political gains.
Under Cllr Hall portfolio for environment, residents rejected the unwise change in the frequency of collecting the Brown and Waste Bins by the new Harrow Conservative administration in 2006, to the point that a Conservative seat in the Harrow Weald ward was badly lost in the August 2006 by-election that was held due to the death of the Tory councillor.
During her opposition leadership that started in 2010, Tories lost the councils in 2010 and 2014 – five sitting Tory councillors were defeated – two Tory councillors defected and 2 by-elections were lost in 2013.
The Conservatives lost the Harrow council twice, apparently because of the accumulated backlash of the waste collection arrangements and heavy-handed implementation of the CPZ (controlled parking zone), both being under Cllr Hall portfolio.
Regarding the Cllr Hall mention ‘I became the Leader of the Council in Harrow’, she was not elected by the residents. Many say that her very short-lived administration (late 2013 to May 2014 when Tory group lost the council) was a fluke.
[In mid-2013, the breakaway Independent Labour Group, encouraged and supported by the Tory group, snatched the council administration from Labour because of what was described as the personal grudge within the Labour group.
A few months later, Cllr Hall grabbed the council administration with the support of the well-groomed Independent Labour Group who voted in the Tory group through a highly controversial process which created the political mess in Harrow (i.e. a hung council where both the Labour and Tory groups had 25 councillors each, and Tory minority administration was put in place because of the 8 ILG councillors)]