Morning:
11°c
Emission zone signs on the capital's roads to nowhere
Ted Hynds03.08.09
Almost a third of the Low Emission Zone signs around London have been put up on "roads to nowhere".
More than £450,000 of public money has been spent on 220 LEZ signs in cul-de-sacs and no-through roads which heavy lorries and coaches targeted by the scheme could never use.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance condemned the spending, saying: "This is a blatant waste of taxpayers' money. The only proper place for LEZ signs is on roads that lead directly into central London.
"They are totally obsolete when placed at the entrance to roads that go nowhere. This a prime example of Transport for London incompetence that could easily have been avoided with more thorough planning and research."
TfL revealed that 733 signs had been put up on the boundary of the zone around the capital at an estimated cost of £1.5million. Neil Hassett, the TfL customer correspondence manager, said they included those on cul-de-sacs and no-through roads.
"There are around 220 boundary signs on these types of roads. Most are minor and will have only a single entry sign displayed.
"In accordance with mayoral guidance and directions from the Secretary of State for Transport, entry signs must be positioned at each point where a public road crosses the boundary of the LEZ and be visible from each direction of approach."
He said it was impossible to say how much the small-road signs cost.
But based on the £1.5 million bill for the total contract, it is likely to have been around £450,000.
The LEZ charging scheme was introduced in February last year, aimed at reducing pollution gases from diesel-powered commercial vehicles.
The principal targets are heavy lorries, buses and coaches over 12 tons built before October 2001.
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said: "The Mayor is an advocate of common sense in transport matters, and has for example instructed TfL to remove unneccessary clutter such as railings and excess signage from London's streets.
"However, it is a legal requirement for the boundary roads of the LEZ to be appropriately signed."
A TfL spokeswoman said: "The Low Emission Zone was introduced to improve London's air quality and the scheme has encouraged great improvements in emissions from large diesel-engined vehicles since it was introduced.
"All of the roads with signage are within the scheme boundary and it is a legal requirement for boundary roads to have appropriate signage.
"All roads within the boundary, whether they are through roads or not, benefit from the improved air quality the scheme brings by encouraging owners and operators of the largest diesel-engined vehicles to clean up their emissions."
Reader views (4)
Another load of politically correct nonsense and I'm disappointed Boris allows this kind of waste of public funds. Do the fumes from a lorry travelling on a designated road somehow miraculously avoid drifting onto a non-designated road because there is a sign there?
We had all this rubbish for years with non-nuclear zones! What difference did those pointless signs make to anything? How much did they cost? What did they achieve other than the self satisfaction of self-important "look how on message I am" Town Hall wally.
What we need is some sign-free zones and see if our lives get any worse for it.
I suppose they would have to put up signs to tell us that this area is a sign free-zone though. Oh well
- Ronnie, Billericay UK
I dont need a book to read at night, after driving for a couple of hours a day every day, i must read the equivalent of war and peace whilst on my travels.
Get the useless signs off and let me get back to focusing on the road
- Mr S.Port, London
In this Borough and neighboring boroughs, as you drive down a main road you see a sign on ever side road, but then there are thousands of signs, including beware of the cattle, although cattle have not roamed free in the forest here for decades.
In every town hall sits a department of planning that must justify its existence by useless initiatives. But then every state organization from the BBC to NHS has a similar fate.
Decades ago, Linklater wrote a brilliant book, where in one fictitious Scottish Fishing Village everyone was engaged in measuring, policing, some even shareing out the catch, while others kept an eye on the sharers, but only one man went fishing. They were very poor, while in the next village everyone went fishing, so there was no need to share out the catch, they were very rich.
We have everyone working in administrative jobs, but no one makes anything.
- Alan Green, Woodford Green
Wriggle, spin, spin, wriggle.
"it is a legal requirement for boundary roads to have appropriate signage. "
What this means that the boundary was drawn wrong. It should have gone around the back gardens of the properties on the cul-de-sacs, shouldn't it?
- Nigel, London
