The Mayor of London has announced plans for a £25m car scrappage fund that would run alongside the previously announced van scheme to help make Londoners ready for April’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.

Sadiq Khan has announced plans for a £25m car scrappage scheme for the London ULEZ

Details of the car scrappage fund have not been announced yet but the Mayor’s Press Office said it would help low-income Londoners scrap older cars. It will join the £23m van scheme that was announced in September; planned for implementation ahead of the April arrival of the ULEZ, the van scheme will use City Hall funding to help smaller business owners – defined as those with fewer than 10 employees – scrap older, more polluting vans and switch to cleaner vehicles.

The announcement on the car scheme, which is included in the Mayor’s draft budget for 2019/20, comes as the Mayor, together with the cities network UK100, brings together city leaders from across the country to urge government ministers to deliver a national vehicle upgrade fund that could pay for nearly half a million (488,647) older polluting cars, vans and buses to be taken off the roads and incentivise people and businesses into using low-emission vehicles and public transport, according to UK100 research.

City leaders are also calling on ministers to seize the opportunity presented by the Government’s new Environment Bill to put in place measures including the Adoption of World Health Organization recommended air pollution limits as legally binding targets to be achieved by 2030, the creation of an independent watchdog to hold the Government’s actions on air quality and other environment issues to account, including Climate Change, to account and the provision of powers to local authorities to enable them to deliver zero-emission transport networks.

Sadiq Khan said: “With seven weeks to go until the introduction of the 24-hour seven-day-a-week Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London, I’m announcing plans to help motorists on low incomes, as well as micro-businesses, to scrap their older, more polluting vehicles. However, Ministers must now show they can match my commitment. If we’re going to tackle the health crisis and social injustice caused by air pollution it is vital and only fair that a national vehicle scrappage scheme is funded and supported by the government.

“I know Michael Gove and Matt Hancock both share my commitment to clean up our filthy air and protect the health of future generations – but for this to happen they must recognise the scale of this issue, dip in their pockets and urgently match the ambition of our city leaders.”