The motion was moved by Councillor McLean and seconded by Councillor Cox.

The Liberal Democrat amendment as set out in agenda item 19 was moved by Councillor Willis and seconded by Councillor Bokhari.

The Liberal Democrat amendment was put to the vote and fell: Votes for – 17, Against – 35, Abstentions – 1.

The Labour amendment as set out in agenda item 19 was moved by Councillor Kirby and seconded by Councillor Attawar.

The Labour amendment was put to the vote and carried: Votes for – 28, Against – 24, Abstentions – 1.

The substantive motion as amended was then put to the vote and carried: Votes for – 28, Against – 24, Abstentions – 1.

RESOLVED:

This Council notes:

- That the Mayor of London has led a concerted campaign to tackle toxic air pollution, to protect Londoners, including residents in Merton, from diseases due to air pollution over the next 30 years;

- The Mayor of London’s laudable aim to drastically reduce the cost to the NHS and the social care system of air pollution currently running at £10.4 billion;

- The Mayor of London has already taken ground-breaking action with his support for ULEZ in central London and this has reduced harmful pollution levels by almost a half and because of this, 4 million Londoners are now breathing cleaner air; and

Whereas:

- The Mayor of London has listened to Merton Council during the comprehensive consultation over the expansion of ULEZ to outer London and has provided more help for residents during this Cost of Living emergency;

- The Mayor of London has introduced the most generous scrappage scheme yet - £110 million – to support Merton residents on lower incomes, disabled residents, micro businesses and charities to scrap or retrofit their non[1]compliant vehicles;

 - The Mayor of London has repeatedly kept the GLA Assembly, London boroughs, including Merton, and the press informed about the ULEZ consultation and noted that the consultation was hijacked by Fair Fuel UK, a vested interest group using tactics to manipulate the results of a fair consultation;

- 59% of responses to the Mayor’s consultation on ULEZ expansion agreed that more needed to be done to tackle toxic air.

Therefore:

This Council calls upon the cabinet to:

 ? Work with the Mayor of London and TfL so that the ULEZ expansion is supported by a wide-ranging engagement with residents on the detail of the scrappage scheme and on the exemptions for disabled drivers and community transport, meaning no impact from ULEZ as a result of these exemptions until 2025 and 2027 respectively;

? Write to TfL with their suggestions for bus route extensions as part of the Mayor of London’s plans, announced in November 2022, for improving the bus network in outer London, with over 1 million kilometres added to the network through planned new routes and improvements.

 ? Work with TfL to understand any requirements for the installation of any ULEZ infrastructure in outer London;

? Support regular review and monitoring into the operation of the scrappage scheme so that it is sensitive to the impact of the Cost of Living emergency on Merton’s residents.