The funny thing about the environment as an issue is that you would be hard pressed to find someone who actually thinks that we shouldn’t work towards bettering the environment. We all like to breathe clean, fresh air, and smog filled cities are in the very least, unpleasant.

Still, the fact that there are often rational and reasonable objections to the whims of environmentalists seems not to matter, a shame as often,  a reasonable and rational exploration of all the issues at hand is what is required.  Not the singular populist focus on the environment that seems all to prevalent these days.  A focus that often risks livelihoods or indeed damages them beyond repair.

Case in point is the latest effort from Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.  Mayor Livingstone has decided to institute a Low emission Zone for London, the result being that diesel powered vehicles, namely freight carrying vehicles will be penalised hundreds of pounds for the privilege of gaining access to London.

My immediate thought at seeing this initiative was, and one that has apparently been reiterated by the the Freight Transport Association, where is the money going to come from?

Indeed the Freight Transport Association estimates that some 10,000 vehicles will be effected, vehicles that will now either need to be refitted, replaced or their operators continually levied hundreds of pounds so they can transit London’s Low Emission Zone.  Anyway you look at it, the implementation of the Low Emission Zone is going cost, and cost plenty.

While there may be some who will be able to come up with the extra funds to cover the above options, others may not be so fortunate and will simply be forced out of business.

The problem with this approach, if not blindingly obvious, is that not only will some operators be forced out of business, the operators that can cope with the increased expense, will merely have to pass on that expense to the consumer, so everyone will end up paying for Livingstone’s environmental crusade.

This then is the reality of London’s Low Emission Zone, a measure that has environmental merit for sure, but one that has been implemented without thought to consequences, other than those of the environment. Not only grossly irresponsible but an act of thoughtless legislating that should be frowned upon by all who now have to pay for it.

A better outcome perhaps would have been for the Government of Great Britain, not to mention the City of London, investing in assisting operators acquire and operate vehicles that are better suited to meeting or even surpassing, modern day environmental standards.  A rational solution one might say to more than just the environmental issue.

Editorial by Findlay Osborn

Sources: Freight Transport Association and Transport for London

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.