Mayor scraps Congestion Charge zone
* Western extension to be dropped * Will take until 2010, though * Follows public consultation...
London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that the western extension of London's Congestion Charge zone is to be scrapped.
The move follows a public consultation in which 67% of respondents, including 86% of businesses, said they wanted the extended zone lifted. More than 28,000 people took part in the consultation.
The 8-a-day toll was extended to most of Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea in west London last February.
Johnson must now begin legal procedures to remove the charge, which will take until spring 2010 to complete at the earliest.
Johnson said: 'Londoners have spoken loud and clear, and the majority of people have said that they would like the scheme scrapped.'
Labour's transport spokesperson, Val Shawcross, said: 'The rolling back of the congestion charge is a foolish and backward step by Boris Johnson.
'It will lose Transport for London (TfL) 70m a year that could have been spent on improving our public transport system, and will increase traffic and air pollution in one of the dirtiest and noisiest areas of central London.'
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