Legislation

Average CO2 emissions from new cars must be slashed to 130g/km by 2015, the equivalent of achieving 58mpg with a diesel engine and 52mpg in a petrol car.

After one million votes were received in a referendum of 10 local authority areas, 79% were against the proposed pay-as-you-drive scheme for Manchester.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has decided to scrap London’s Western congestion charge zone. The extension, covering Kensington and Chelsea and part of Westminster, will disappear in spring 2010 when legal procedures are completed.

Around a third of trucks over 12 tonnes operating in Greater London are significantly cleaner than they were one year ago, according to Transport for London’s (TfL’s) first monitoring report examining the impact of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has launched a consultation on European Commission proposals to introduce compulsory CO2 targets for new cars.

MPs have debated the Government’s controversial plans to increase Vehicle Excise Duty. The VED increases were announced in the March Budget and are due to come into effect in two phases - April next year and April 2010.

The SMMT's Policy Departments says it expects that Government ministers will confirm Manchester's congestion charging scheme any day now.

The Treasury suddenly announced on the 29 April 2008 that it was abolishing an existing VED exemption on higher road tax rates for vehicles emitting more than 225g of CO2 per kilometre registered between March 2001 and March 2006.

Porsche, a company that is in a court battle with London Mayor Ken Livingstone about the proposed new £25 Congestion Charge for high emitting cars, has unearthed an interesting report.

Porsche Cars Great Britain has announced its intention to make an application for judicial review of the proposed extension in the London congestion charge, which will see the cost of driving cars that produce CO2 emissions of 226g/km and above in the capital rise from £8.00 a day, or just 80p if they are residents in the congestion zone, to £25.00 a day.