Mayor Boris Johnson is to examine the case for a congestion charge zone around Heathrow airport.

Speaking at the Mayor's Question Time this week, Johnson said he would talk to the new coalition Government about a "clean air zone" to tackle pollution.

Heathrow is already included in the Low Emission Zone which operates over much of Greater London. Vehicles that do not meet the LEZ emission standards or qualify for an exemption or discount have to pay a daily charge of up to £200

Britain's busiest airport already suffers from traffic jams and poor air quality and will struggle to reach new European standards by 2012 - though the absence of a third runway makes that goal possible. However, passenger numbers at Heathrow are predicted to increase from 63m to 80m.
Transport contributes about half of all the air pollution in the capital.

Transport for London has said there are about 1,000 premature deaths and about 1,000 hospital admissions as a result of poor air quality annually.

The LEZ is targeted to reduce emissions overall by 16% by 2012.


"Heathrow cannot be relied on"

While the Mayor's own plans for 'Boris Island" in the Thames estuary have been kicked into touch by his party, Johnson said "(I) don’t think that Heathrow can be relied upon to be Britain’s hub international airport for the future. I think that’s absolutely crazy."

He added:

"I’m not an expert on quite how much more you can cram into the existing runway capacity at Heathrow, but plainly I do not want to see huge numbers of more flights coming over the skies of London."

Mike Tuffrey, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, called for Mr Johnson to work with BAA to cut pollution in the residential West London area.

He said:

"In terms of dealing with the air quality aspects at Heathrow, an awful lot of that is surface transport in and out, and the studies of the ash cloud affect are as much about reduced vehicles in and around Heathrow as the planes themselves."

Mr Johnson replied:

"I will examine it and I will consult members of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition about what kind of congestion charge they might support in west London.

Plainly the reduction of nitrous oxide around Heathrow during the volcanic ash cloud is a very powerful indicator of the affect of aviation on pollution.

I don’t want to see more nitrous oxide being emitted by traffic congestion and aviation congestion around west London."