The Green Party has spelled out its opposition to the council’s proposals for a possible ‘congestion fee’ on Epping Forest roads.

Epping Forest Council is looking into measures reduce pollution around the forest’s Special Area of Conservation to help Natural England’s backing for future developments.

The ULEZ style Clean Air Zone (CAZ), known as the Interim Air Pollution Mitigation Strategy, might see drivers charged to use roads by 2025.

The district’s Green Party, while staunch advocates for environmentalism and reduction of pollution, have lodged their opposition to the plans.

Cllr Simon Heap, deputy leader of the Green Party, said: “On the face of it, the Green Party should be supportive of a CAZ, so why do we say no?

Firstly the scientific report, though thorough, did not include the full range of pollutants caused by large volumes of traffic. These include particulates from tyre and road degradation and elements from brake pads. It also fails to include low level ozone. All of these are bad for most receptors.

“This is a problem for us precisely because the strategy of charging for a CAZ does not reduce traffic. At best it will divert it to surrounding roads and severely increase pollution. If the Sewerdstone road became the best free option of getting to the M25 and the Next development happens, we will see a queue of traffic from the M25 all the way to Chingford and past the hunting lodge. This will not help anyone. It will add to journey times, more standing traffic, it will add costs to businesses and if that is a plumber or similar, they will have no option but to pass it on to the customer and so increase costs for everyone.”

The council has yet to confirm how much any potential CAZ would cost drivers and promises it will not do so without a full consultation.

A similar scheme used in London, ULEZ, charges drivers £12.50 a day and can cost lorry drivers up to £100.

Cllr Heap added: “Where other CAZ schemes have been introduced or are being proposed, London and Walthamstow, there are many options for travel. This is not the case in Epping Forest.”