News Articles Archive - Page 137 of 140

Camden Town Unlimited (CTU) has partnered with Cross River Partnership through the Clean Air Better Business programme to improve London’s air quality through behaviour change activities, interventions and campaigns in Camden Town.

CTU now have two Brompton folding bicycles for member businesses’ use as pool bikes – for free. The bikes have been very well received and companies can join the waiting list to have the bikes for 2 months at a time. They are currently with KSR Architects. The CTU pool bike scheme provides access to the bikes, helmet, reflector jacket, lock and trip computer which helps us track how much usage and mileage the bikes have delivered.

This initiative promotes healthy, sustainable travel for employees for work trips during the day and errands. CTU will be supported in developing an area based travel plan with the objective of having a strategic plan for accessibility in the Camden Town area.

If you’d like to find out more or sign your company up to the waiting list then contact Jessica Behar

InMidtown’s Cycle Vault was launched as the first of its kind-, a public, multi-purpose cycle facility in London. The facilities include:
Secure cycle parking, 24 hour access, lockers, showers, complete CCTV coverage, 24/7 monitoring by staff, access via personalised key fob and communal maintenance tools with a repair area. This futuristic cycle hub has made 100 bike parking spaces available within 10 car sparking spaces.

“No one has done this before. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to cycle, to remove the obstacles. We also want to turn some seasonal cyclists into all-year-round cyclists. The question is how we can build on parking to offer more services to them.” – Tass Mavrogordato, Chief Executive of InMidtown

Midtown Businesses are being offered the opportunity to trial the facility for free. For further information and to book, contact Corin@midtown.london

London’s first ‘Wellbeing Walk’ has launched to enhance the daily commute! Commuters walking between St Pancras International and Euston Station now have a healthier and more pleasant alternative route with the launch (Monday 6th July) of London’s first designated station to station Wellbeing Walk.
The Wellbeing Walk, developed and launched by Urban Partners, is an innovation for the capital. Rather than pedestrians having to walk along the Euston Road, the Wellbeing Walk provides pedestrians with a less polluted and congested route between the two stations. The route, which features Eversholt Street, Phoenix Road and Brill Place, responds in particular to growing concern in the capital about air quality. This project is directly supported through CRP’s Clean Air Better Business programme.

Key features of the route include:
-Air quality along the new walking route improved by up to 65% compared to the more polluted Euston Road
-A healthier, less congested route for commuters, and convenient access to local independent traders in Somers Town

This initiative is developed by Urban Partners, a voluntary business partnership made up of key local businesses with the aim of shaping the area and supporting businesses and local communities.

Joyce Lorigan, Chair of Urban Partners, said:
“We all have deeply ingrained habits when it comes to our daily commute and we rarely stop to consider the alternatives. The Wellbeing Walk offers a healthier, less stressful route for the tens of thousands of people that travel between Euston, St Pancras International and Kingʼs Cross each day. This important initiative has been made possible thanks to an effective collaboration between businesses that make up the Urban Partners and the local community, which we hope will provide a model that can be replicated in other areas of London.”

For further information contact Zoe Barwick.

Image: Councillor Phil Jones, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, from the London Borough of Camden

Cross River Partnership’s Recruit London project is recruiting for six roles within the team: Delivery Manager, Workplace Coordinators x 3, Specialist Workplace Coordinator, Project Support Assistant. The closing date is 2^nd August 2015.

Recruit London offers a free high quality local recruitment service to businesses and helps central-London jobseekers into the opportunities created. Workplace Coordinators are based within Central London business improvement districts or landowners, to access vacancies with their member or tenant businesses. They then engage, screen and train local candidates to prepare them for the positions available. Employers and candidates continue to receive support to sustain jobs for six months. The successful project has supported over 1,000 candidates into work since 2009. The project is delivered in partnership with the Crown Estate, New West End Company, Capco and Westminster City Council.

Visit the website of our accountable body, Westminster City Council, to see the vacancies and apply. For more information contact our Employability Coordinator, Elizabeth Harris at eharris2@lambeth.gov.uk.

Cross River Partnership attended the central London launch event of the European Social Fund this week, to learn more about the imminent release of this funding. The majority of the ESF is matched at source, meaning over £1bn is available in London alone.
Funding applications will be invited sub-regionally, with the central London package area closely matching Cross River Partnership’s footprint. Employer engagement is a strong theme, encouraging applicants to work closely with business to support candidates to change their lives by entering sustainable jobs.
More information is available from the London Enterprise Panel via their website. We look forward to working closely with our partners on these opportunities. Do contact CRP’s Employability Coordinator Elizabeth Harris on eharris2@lambeth.gov.uk for more information.

Working with employers and the NHS to support individuals with previous mental health issues has been a great success for the new Specialist Workplace Coordinator project, launched by Cross River Partnership in February this year. We are delighted that Westminster City Council is just one of the employers that has worked with us to design a bespoke work experience opportunity to meet the needs of a candidate that required extra support before wanting to apply for paid employment.

The candidate placed at Westminster City Council was referred to us from the NHS and was specifically looking for a work placement that would enable her to build her confidence, gain up to date work-based skills while also learning new systems in a Finance team. She completed her degree in Accounts in 2010 but then became unwell just as her career was beginning. Working with the candidate to really understand her needs meant CRP was able to design an effective and relevant 4 week work experience programme with the relevant team. The candidate has now completed and is ready to start interviewing for paid employment opportunities in finance.

Earlier this year Lambeth Council, working in partnership with Brixton Market Traders Federation, secured £869k from the Mayor’s High Street Fund to regenerate Brixton’s iconic markets streets. CRP’s Place Making Project Manager, Owain Jones, is leading the Programme Management, which will see improvements delivered by the end of March 2016.

The Brixton markets project will create a five year Strategy for the street markets. Capital investment will provide a new hard surface to Electric Avenue along with an improved stall layout and new charging and water points for traders. The ambition is to create a cleaner, smoother functioning and more welcoming market place that attracts more custom and trade. The project will also deliver a world first local currency cash machine for the Brixton £, town centre Wi-Fi and hand held card payment systems for market traders.

Landscape drawings for Electric Avenue, Pope’s Road and Station Road are being produced by architects Gort Scott. An Initial round of consultation events has been conducted with residents, shop retailers, market traders, shoppers and local stakeholders. This engagement has led to the production of initial design proposals that Lambeth Council are now consulting on more widely. In addition to taking stalls in the market last Wednesday and Saturday, Lambeth will convene a fifth engagement event with traders on Wednesday, 1st July.

To view and comment on the initial designs or for more information about the Brixton Street Market project visit: futurebrixton.org

In a recent ballot property owners in the heart of London voted to form the first two Property Owner BIDs in the UK: Piccadilly & St James’; and Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. Well done to all concerned!

Four fifths of ballot card holders voted in support of creating a Property Owner BID in Piccadilly & St James’ on an impressive 88% turn out. On a lower turn out an overwhelming majority voting in favour ensured the creation of a Property Owner BID in Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

These developments come in on the back of regulatory amendments introduced only last December. The creation of a property owner BID follows a similar consultation and ballot process as that required for the creation of an ‘occupier’ BID, of which there are now more than 40 across the capital. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is wholeheartedly in favour, having established a £280k fund to support the creation of BIDs.

‘Occupier’ and now Property Owner BIDs provide a form of local business democracy enabling the business community to help shape the area where they work, whether that be in the form of public realm improvements, enterprise or training support, business growth and job creation or improving waste and cleansing services formerly provided by local authorities.

Robert Jewell, Portfolio Director – Land Securities and Chair, Property Owner BID Leadership & Steering Group, said: “Through our collective input and funding power, the BID will ensure sufficient resources are directed at the priorities we dictate. Public space requires careful thought and investment to maintain its integrity and to create the experience which allows us to flourish within it.”

Over 90 people, representing the European freight transport industry, private companies, the public sector and a range of research organisations, attended the final project conference for the LaMiLo Last Mile Logistics project held in Brussels earlier this week. Cross River Partnership’s role within this project has been to develop a series of policy measures to influence behaviour change in the last mile of logistics – this mile produces the most NOx, carbon, cost, congestion.

LaMiLo, an INTERREG IVB North West Europe project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, has aimed to create a step change in freight deliveries by fully considering the ‘last mile’ of a supply chain. A range of reports on behaviour change, public and private sector perspectives, and policy reviews have been produced as part of the project; alongside a series of pilots testing different approaches to urban consolidation centres across North West Europe.

Key themes from the project conference included:

Consolidation centres have proved to be successful in reducing the impact of freight traffic on urban roads, including reducing carbon emissions and NOx. Four of the LaMiLo pilots, including the London Borough of Camden’s multi-borough consolidation centre, will continue beyond the life of the LaMilo project. The success of these consolidation centres will rely, in part, upon the volumes they are able to attract.A key action for central London is to ensure a strategic approach is taken to the use and development of consolidation centres in the future to ensure they are sustainable beyond the start-up phase. We will seek to work with Transport for London, the central London local authorities and BIDs / businesses to stimulate, develop and implement this strategic approach.

Behaviour change of all stakeholders is key to the success of last mile logistics solutions, including consolidation centres. Part of the tools in changing behaviour is having the data available to demonstrate the beneficial impact of last mile logistics solutions. This requires a transparency of economic, environmental, and social costs and benefits. Another key tool is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding last mile logisticsThere is scope to raise awareness in central London within both local authorities and businesses of the issues associated with last mile logistics, as well as the types of activities that could be undertaken to address these issues and demonstrate their benefits. We would like to actively engage local authorities and businesses and stimulate behaviour change. We will explore the development of a sustainable procurement approach with partners and funders.

The time is here for organisations to ‘Lead the Way’ in improving their last mile logistics. LaMiLo has seen the successes that both public and private sector organisations have had when they have chosen to implement a last mile logistics solution themselves – be it adopting sustainable procurement policies, or establishing a consolidation centre.If you would like to ‘Lead the Way’ please get in touch with Charlotte Knell, on cknell1@westminster.gov.uk. CRP will be able to help put projects together and seek funding for its partners, and point others in the right direction.

What is next? All of the formal reports and documents associated with the LaMiLo project are available on the project website www.lamiloproject.eu. Whilst last mile logistics has increased in visibility over the last few years, there is still a long way to go to reduce the impact of freight traffic in central London. As the LaMiLo project draws to an end, CRP will continue to implement actions to improve freight management in central London, and which contribute to improving air quality, reducing carbon emissions and making places that work.

To keep you up to date with the latest information relating to major London events and TfL construction projects across London TfL have launched a new web page https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events. It provides month-by-month breakdowns of key events, each phase of the Road Modernisation Plan build and the areas where traffic may be affected. Freight operators and other businesses that rely on London’s roads can also search on a postcode-by-postcode basis to ensure that any potential delays are factored into delivery and logistics planning.

Archives: News Articles

Camden Town Unlimited – Pool Bike scheme

InMidtown Cycle Vault

Urban Partners – Wellbeing Walk launch

We are recruiting!

Release of millions in European Social Funding imminent

Specialist Workplace Coordinator Success!

Brixton Street Market Regeneration

First Two Property Owner BIDs arrive in Heart of London

Last Mile Logistics

London’s Summer Events – New TfL Webpage