Heathrow Airport scraps plan for park-and-ride outside Ulez

Under Heathrow's plans the Colnbrook park-and-ride site would have included 961 parking spaces

Plans to build a park-and-ride for airport staff living outside London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) have been shelved.

Heathrow Airport has withdrawn its application for a 961-space facility on a former golf driving range in Slough.

The land would have been used for three years to give the airport's staff time to transition to Ulez-compliant cars.

It is understood the airport has instead proposed public transport enhancements and car-sharing.

The disused Colnbrook site could have be used to help staff avoid commuter charges, as motorists who drive in the Ulez can be charged up to £12.50 a day.

More than 2,000 Heathrow Airport employees are estimated to live in or around Slough

The zone, which was expanded to cover every Greater London borough in August, sees high-emitting vehicles - often older cars - charged to drive within its boundaries in a bid to tackle air pollution.

An airport spokesperson previously said the Ulez "disproportionately affects lower income employees and their families".

However, the future of the project has been thrown into doubt after the planning application was formally withdrawn.

Heathrow's original planning statement claimed that about 5,000 of its employees - around 7% of its workforce - had non-compliant vehicles and lived outside Greater London.

Of that 5,000, 43% were estimated to live in or around Slough.

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