London’s Mayor, Ken Livingstone, announced a series of new programs this month, created to help the city become a cleaner, greener, capital.
Firstly, a new cycling and walking program, with a budget of £500 million over the next 10 years, will see the introduction of 6000 public bicycles, as part of a scheme inspired by the velib bikes in Paris.
The bikes, which will be located at docking stations 300 meters apart, will be free for the first half hour of use, with fees of around £1 for every additional half hour. As part of the program special cycle priority and pedestrian priority streets will also be introduced by around 2009, in an effort to increase the number of pedal-powered journies in the city.
Secondly, Mayor Livingstone announced new congestion fees for high-emission vehicles. From 27 October 2008 cars with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, such as some so-called ‘Chelsea tractors’, high powered sports cars and luxury vehicles, will pay a daily charge of £25 to drive in the central London Congestion Charge Zone.
Low emission vehicles, such as electric and hybrid cars, however, will be exempt from the congestion charge. The scheme is designed, therefore, to offer an additional financial incentive to encourage drivers to buy more fuel efficient cars.
Finally, the Mayor has teamed up with London’s film and TV industry in an effort to make London the ‘greenest’ place to film a movie. There are around 38 crews on the streets of London everyday, making a significant environmental impact. One of the first steps of the program, therefore, will be to establish the current carbon footprint of the industry and identify the best opportunities to become more energy efficient. A Green Screen London advisory group will also be established to develop the campaign further.
The new programs are all part of the London Climate Change Action Plan, which aims to cut the capital’s emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
