News Articles Archive - Page 149 of 154

Great news! Cross River Partnership has submitted an application on behalf of the central London sub-region for the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund round 2.

Cross River Partnership’s application incorporated proposals from 12 BID and 4 local authority partners, which is a positive indication of how enthusiastic our partners are in addressing the poor air quality issue in London.

This new application is to expand on the interventions already being implemented by CRP and its partners with the Mayor’s Air Quality funded – Clean Air Better Business (CABB) programme. Achievements to date include:

Mainstreaming Air Quality issues within Business Improvement District agendas

500 Air Quality toolkits designed to provide businesses with example interventions of what they can do to tackle the air quality problem
A business-facing air quality widget (please see an example here)
Delivery and Servicing Plans being piloted by up to 7 large businesses across central London
Encouraging the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles through a business engagement event for London’s ‘Go Ultra Low City Scheme’ funding application
Zero and Low emission directory of suppliers
Supporting active travel and exposure mitigation through re-routing travel (Wellbeing walk and Pool bike scheme)
Communication campaign and promoting CABB activity via social media e.g. Twitter
Raising awareness amongst Private hire vehicle operators on air quality and offering ‘drive-style’ training.

The MAQF2 provides an excellent opportunity for CRP and partners to reap maximum rewards from the development time already put in for CABB and it also provides the chance to offer even more innovation and services, to business and residents.

Fingers crossed!.

CRP has been awarded over €90,000 to develop innovative approaches to improvements in city logistics across a number of European cities over the next 6 months, under our new project “Freight TAILS”. This funding will support the development of a larger bid (up to €750,000) for the project to be implemented 2016 – 2018.

This funding is awarded under the URBACT III programme.

CRP’s Freight TAILS was one of only 21 applications to be successful at Phase 1 from a total of 99 submissions. We received the following excellent feedback from the funders:

“The URBACT Freight TAILS project addresses the challenges posed by rapidly increasing freight movements, within the context of all urban logistics. It aims at the development of tailored freight management policies using the URBACT Integrated Action Planning methodology. The External Assessment Panel considers this is an excellent proposal, presenting very high quality content on all dimensions to be assessed and very high potential for successful implementation.” URBACT Secretariat

“Freight TAILS” Phase 1 is led by CRP in partnership with Maastricht (The Netherlands), Parma (Italy), Plascencia (Spain), and Suceava (Romania). Over the course of the next 6 months we will expand the partnership to total up to 12 European cities for the full Phase 2 application.

For more information on Freight TAILS please contact Charlotte Knell, CRP Project Manager, cknell1@westminster.gov.uk.

For more information on the other successful URBACT III projects, please go to http://urbact.eu/new-action-planning-networks-more-information-available.

CRP’s Ananth Murthy has successfully secured a permanent post following a competitive interview process, with Cross River Partnership’s accountable body Westminster City Council, as a Business and Enterprise Programme Manager. This appointment comes after Ananth has worked on the successful ERDF- funded Supply Cross River 2 project over the past two years, which completed its delivery in March 2015. The draft evaluation of the project shows that it has massively overachieved on many of the formal outcomes and made a real difference to the SMEs in the central London sub-region. Well done Ananth and all of CRP’s SXR2 project partners!

The GLA is in the process of commissioning a piece of research to measure the impact of BIDs in London. CRP has been invited to work alongside the GLA, the London Enterprise Panel, London Councils and BID representatives themselves to shape, manage and inform the research.

A comparison will be made with the results from the last piece of GLA BIDs Impact Research commissioned in 2012. The research results will also be important in terms of identifying what more BIDs can do within the context of rapidly changing economic, public sector, legislative, taxation, and political contexts.

The Mayor has published the Draft Central Activities Zone (CAZ) Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) for public consultation for a period of 12 weeks – from 15 September to 8 December 2015.

The draft CAZ SPG provides guidance on how to interpret and apply policies in the 2015 London Plan related to London’s Central Activities Zone and, where relevant, the North of the Isle of Dogs.

It includes guidance on matters including:

office to residential permitted development rights and the need for a co-ordinated approach to borough Article 4 Directions if the current exemptions for the CAZ, Tech City, North of the Isle of Dogs, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone are removed
striking an appropriate balance between offices and residential in different parts of the Zone
promoting strategic clusters of culture, arts and entertainment uses/ activities and accommodating growth in retail development
enhancing the distinct environment and heritage of the CAZ with examples of accommodating growth through contextual change in CAZ
supplementary guidance on tall buildings bringing together work by the GLA and boroughs on Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks and Local Plans
guidance on identifying capacity for residential development in the CAZ without compromising strategic functions
implementation and delivery of essential new transport infrastructure, walking, cycling and use of the River Thames
interpretation of the London Plan CAZ Diagram and guidance on the CAZ Opportunity Areas.

The draft SPG can be downloaded here on the Greater London Authority website:

https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/consultations/central-activities-zone-draft-supplementary-planning-guidance

How to comment on the document:

Written responses should be sent by post or email to the contact details below:

By email – to mayor@london.gov.uk

By post (no stamp required) to:

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
(CAZ SPG)
FREEPOST LON15799
GLA City Hall, post point 18
The Queen’s Walk
LONDON SE1 2AA

All responses (emails and letters) should be received by midnight on Tuesday 8 December 2015

Please note that all responses will be available for public inspection.

CRP’s Recruit London project is delighted to celebrate the perfect match of our candidate with luxury retailer Penhaligon’s!

Westminster resident Simone came to Recruit London with a number of personal setbacks that had prevented her from working since 2014. Now, with our support “every step of the way” and her positive attitude she is working at Penhaligon’s and has a “future in retail”.

When we first Simone in February 2015 she was struggling to get job interviews and was starting to feel frustrated. She wanted to move away from her previous career in banking into retail and was happy to ask for help to achieve that. Simone benefitted from interview technique sessions and a mock interview. We helped her confidently identify her transferrable skills gained from banking and reassured her about the gap in her employment history. Our main aim was then to start introducing her to employers.

After one interview with a retailer that unfortunately only lasted a few minutes and left Simone feeling she had done something wrong, we helped her keep her confidence up, explaining to her that that not all interviews go according to plan and that the important thing was to learn from each of them. After that session Simone was determined to use her positivism to secure a role… and she did!

In July 2015 we secured an opportunity with the perfumery retailer Penhaligon’s. It was a brand we knew that Simone loved and a small store that would offer her a friendly culture to grow within. After a final mock interview session with Recruit London and a session to ensure she knew all there was to know about Penhaligon’s, Simone attended the interview and won them over instantly!

Penhaligon’s say: She is settling very well! She did brilliantly and was a joy to work with. I can say that she’ll definitely have a future in retail. It felt like having another member of staff and not a new starter.

Simone explained: I want to take this opportunity to thank the Recruit London team for working with me and preparing me for the interviews that came up and getting my confidence back. I felt your support every step of the way, I felt I could always call on you or send an email with confidence that my questions or coaching enquires would be sorted before an interview. Thanks too for all your patience with me on those days when I didn’t return your calls or reply to the emails on time. Nonetheless you carried on searching on my behalf and for this I thank you…. Especially for making the right match for me with Penhaligon’s!

Recruit London are continuing to be on hand for Simone should she need us but we are confident that this is the start of a long term career in retail for her.

Contact CJ, Recruit London Delivery Manager, for more information at cjames@westminster.gov.uk

Several FREVUE partners have announced that as a direct result of the CRP-led FREVUE demonstrator project, they will increase the number of electric vehicles in their fleets and look at opening new consolidation centres.

To date, over 50 vehicles have been procured and delivered across the FREVUE demonstration cities. Of these, 11 were delivered in London with another six vehicles expected to be operational by October 2015.

These encouraging developments are due to the positive feedback from the electric freight vehicles and consolidation centres in operation so far. Overall, the performance of the vehicles is good and most are fully integrated into daily operations. Feedback from drivers remains largely positive with reduced noise levels of the vehicles significantly improving their well-being.

Based on their positive experience with electric freight vehicles in the FREVUE project, several partners now want to enlarge their fleets beyond the original target: In Lisbon, CTT (the Portuguese national postal service) will add another 30 vehicles to their electric freight fleet over the next three years while EMEL (Lisbon’s municipal parking company) will procure six additional vehicles. In Amsterdam, Heineken decided to introduce two more vehicles than originally foreseen.

In addition to further vehicles, two new construction consolidation centres (CCCs) are to be developed at large building sites in Stockholm. Both have been inspired by the CCC at the Royal Seaport Area that is part of the FREVUE project.

The FREVUE (Freight Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe) project is an urban e-mobility project supported by the European Commission. FREVUE seeks to demonstrate to industry, consumers and policy makers how electric vehicles can meet the growing need for sustainable urban logistics.

For questions or comments, please contact the FREVUE Co-ordinator, Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer, on tdmuenchmeyer@westminster.co.uk

http://frevue.eu/

The launch of the Urban Partners Wellbeing Walk provides pedestrians with a signposted safer, less polluted and calmer route between Euston and King’s Cross.

Tens of thousands of pedestrians walk between the two stations each day along the Euston Road. Last year, the monitoring station on the road recorded an annual average of 104 ug/m3 with 220 breaches of the hourly limit value. Diffusion tube monitoring on the wellbeing route carried out by Camden indicated a level of 35 ug/m3 on the route – around 65% lower than Euston Road.

On the morning of the launch, Uto Patrick from CRP’s Clean Air Better Business programme and Andrew Grieve from King’s College London walked from Euston to King’s Cross along the two routes carrying micro-aethalometers which measure black carbon emissions.

The results demonstrated a marked difference between the two routes with the cumulative exposure on the wellbeing walk around 70% lower than Euston Road.

Fig 1 – graph showing 1 minute avg black carbon concentrations

Fig 2 – graph showing cumulative black carbon concentrations

The facts show that the Wellbeing Walk reduces commuters’ exposure to poor air quality by a significant amount. Urban Partners hope the Wellbeing Walk is a concept which will be replicated across the capital with business working alongside boroughs and local communities to revitalise areas and improve health and wellbeing for commuters and residents alike.

We had an amazing response to our recent recruitment and after a tough fortnight shortlisting 180 applications and interviewing over 20 excellent candidates with our project partners, we are pleased to announce our outstanding team who will deliver our Recruit London initiative over the coming year.

CJ (Claire James) formally joins CRP as Recruit London Delivery Manager. She will develop and implement strategies to: engage candidates and businesses; prepare candidates for the roles available; and support candidates to sustain work for six months, as well as overseeing project delivery.

Three Workplace Coordinators will be based at project partners: Isabelle Benard at New West End Company; Thomas Wagaine at the Crown Estate; and Benjamin Laryea at our newest partner Capco. They will work with member or tenant businesses to secure vacancies and prepare unemployed Westminster residents for the opportunities available. Workplace Coordinators continue to support the candidate and employer once they start work, to help candidates sustain employment for six months.

Sylvia Kankasa will join as our Specialist Workplace Coordinator, working with businesses to source employment opportunities suitable for candidates who face additional barriers to employment, such as mental health problems or physical disabilities. Nikoletta Gjergji will stay with CRP as Project Support Assistant, helping keep everything smoothly running behind the scenes.

The initiative is supported by Westminster City Council.

New staff will join throughout September. If you have any queries, please contact Elizabeth Harris, Employability Coordinator on eharris2@lambeth.gov.uk or CJ on cjames@westminster.gov.uk.

Susana was out of work for over a year before being helped into work as a Healthcare Assistant at Chelsea & Westminster NHS Trust by CITE as part of the Into Work programme.

Susana explains “after being unemployed for over a year your confidence gets a little bit dented and CITE helped build that up. CITE really provided a great foundation to work… they care about what the individual wants for themselves and it’s not about pushing them into any job. It’s a holistic way of preparing someone for the world of work as as a person not a number.”

After starting, she has received support not just from CITE but also from her peers. “There are people who were at CITE on the different wards in my hospital and we all look out for each other. There is a support network amongst students.” She will continue to receive support to sustain employment for 26 weeks.

The Into Work programme is managed by Cross River Partnership on behalf of Central London Forward. It is funded by the City of London Corporation.

Archives: News Articles

Mayor’s Air Quality Fund 2 bid submitted

CRP Funding Success for Freight

Onwards and Upwards!

BIDs research

Consultation on CAZ Supplementary Planning Guidance

Recruit London delivering jobs

FREVUE leading to additional electric vehicles and consolidation centres

Monitoring Air Quality exposure on Urban Partner’s Wellbeing Walk

New team to deliver CRP’s Recruit London initiative

Into Work provider CITE provide a great foundation to work