News Articles Archive - Page 55 of 146 - Cross River Partnership

Image: A School Street in action at the Van Gogh Primary School, London Borough of Lambeth.

With schools back open after lockdown, it’s great to see the return of Sustrans Big Pedal – the UK’s biggest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting competition!

Running from 19th – 30th April, the Big Pedal is open to all UK primary and secondary schools, encouraging them to compete to see who can get the highest percentage of their pupils, staff and parents cycling, walking, wheeling or scooting to school. There are also daily prizes, with rewards such as equipment and accessories up for grabs, for schools that achieve over 15% of their community participating in active travel.

CRP’s Healthy Streets Everyday programme has helped partners and  London Boroughs to design and  implement School Streets through its Hackney School Streets Hotline, a free telephone service that was available between May and September 2020, providing tailored support for the implementation of school streets. The programme has also helped fund School Street initiatives in London Boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth.

Active travel to school has become increasingly important, especially as we ease out of the pandemic. Not only does being outside reduce the risk of transmission but active travel also improves health and reduces pollution, as poor physical health and pollution are both factors that may be linked to COVID-19 severity.

School Streets play an important role in enabling active and safe travel to school. By creating more space outside of schools, school streets make it safer for children and parents to walk, cycle, wheel and scoot to school, whilst also ensuring more space for social distancing at drop off and pick up times.

For further information, please contact CRP Project Manager Fiona Coull.

This week’s Spotlight On is on CRP partner Hatton Garden BID. The BID’s aim is to support business growth and see Hatton Garden grow as a world-renowned business and visitor destination.

Recently, businesses have voted overwhelmingly in favour of renewing the Hatton Garden Business Improvement District (BID) for a second five year term.

The BID team, led by specialist regeneration consultancy Primera Corporation, will work with Camden Council and other partners to deliver the business plan that was published in advance of the ballot being held.

Hatton Garden is London’s historic jewellery district, home to the largest cluster of jewellery related businesses in the UK, and now also home to a growing number of businesses from other sectors wanting to locate in a bustling, thriving destination with a strong sense of identity. The BID will now be able to continue its work to enhance the area with a range of programmes – from street cleaning, ambassadors and greening, to destination marketing and public realm improvements. Approximately £2 million will be invested into the area over the next five years.

The BID’s second term comes at a pivotal point for London. With the economy beginning to open up once again, and businesses eager to stabilise and grow, the BID stands ready to support the Hatton Garden business community. The much delayed Elizabeth Line now looks finally close to opening, bringing an additional one and half million people to within 45 minutes of Hatton Garden.

There is growing acknowledgement that all areas in the capital are raising their game, no matter how well known or iconic. The drive to compete for the best talent, a rightful share of the tourist market and entice domestic visitors has never been more important.

Gary Williams, Chair of the Hatton Garden BID, said:

“Hatton Garden is already one of London’s great districts, with a diverse business mix, wonderful character, unique venues and ideally located, but it has the potential to be even better. We live in uncertain times, but through the careful curation of the area over the last five years and in our second term, we are on a mission to ensure Hatton Garden benefits from the renaissance of London in the coming months and years.”

The inception meeting for the Defra-funded Clean Air Villages 4 programme is due to take place this week.

All 25 partners will come together to meet one another and launch the programme. The programme will deliver five Freight Solutions, on: Distribution, Consolidation, Mode, Policy & Technology, with the aim of reducing congestion and pollution.

For more information about CAV4 project delivery, please contact CRP Project Manager Kate Fenton.

Further support for businesses has recently been announced, as restrictions lift in a new phase of the pandemic.

The new Restart Grant is a one-off cash grant, available now for businesses with premises registered for business rates. Designed for businesses trying to reopen and get back on their feet after the latest lockdown, the grant is in two strands:

Strand One, grants of up to £6,000 will be paid to non-essential retail premises to help them reopen safely.
Strand Two, grants of up to £18,000 will be allocated to hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym business premises, which may open later under the roadmap and will be more impacted by restrictions when open.

Other financial support available for businesses includes the Recovery Loan Scheme, which supports access to finance for UK businesses as they grow and recover from the disruption of the pandemic. Up to £10 million is available per business. The actual amount offered and the terms are at the discretion of participating lenders. The scheme will run until 31th December 2021.

The Help to Grow programme is a government initiative designed to help small and medium businesses to learn new skills, reach new customers and boost profits. To be eligible, businesses need to have been operating for more than one year and have between five to 249 employees.

Next week’s Lunchtime Launch session, Earth Day: Successful Sustainable Development, will be held on Thursday 22nd April 2021, 1:15pm – 2:00pm.

To mark Earth Day 2021, we are excited to be joined by Debbie Akehurst, Midtown BID, and Katherine Fleming, The Northbank BID, two of CRP’s neighbouring Business Improvement District partners who will be showcasing their sustainability aims and innovative projects to support businesses in building back greener and cleaner post-Covid. We will also be joined by CRP’s Fiona Coull for an interactive learning session on sustainability and business, with information on CRP’s current and new resources due to be launched in the coming weeks.

Fiona Coull will be specifically touching on CRP’s Greening programme, which brought together Business Improvement Districts to deliver 19 Green Infrastructure Audits and 16 installations, including rain gardens, green walls and green roofs, across central London. Additionally, we will be speaking about parklets and their importance for outdoor trading and business in times of government restrictions on retail and hospitality.

The main learning points for this session include:

How London’s Business Improvement Districts can make a transformative impact through sustainability-based goals
How sustainable place making is also good for business
How all Londoners can play their part through everyday actions this Earth Day

For further information about CRP’s ongoing Lunchtime Launch programme please contact CRP Project Officer Rachael Aldridge.

This week we are featuring CRP’s Senior Project Officer Laura Jacklin.

I work on the Clean Air Villages 3 programme and have thoroughly enjoyed working on such an engaging project. It has been great to meet businesses, people and communities across lots of different areas of London. I have worked on shared electric vehicle (EV) schemes across London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, setting up cargo bike schemes with small businesses with local cargo bike couriers in areas such as Tooting and Shepherds Bush.

The best part of my job is seeing the schemes helping businesses, creating a positive change for air quality but also for financial gains. I have also enjoyed
seeing data aid businesses to change to EVs. I have also been leading on studies with the CLSRTP group, looking into freight challenges and solutions that could be utilised for all stakeholders including councils and the private sector.

I have enjoyed with working with our partners and communities across London who have innovative plans for the future of London. On the top of this is the great team I work with day in and day out – I love having such supportive colleagues to have a tea and laugh with.

This day is celebrated to mark the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) first Health Assembly in 1948. Seven decades later, the WHO’s impact in shaping and advocating for gold standard in healthcare has effected us all in many ways.

Today, we have a much richer understanding of what contributes to a positive mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing, especially the role that our environment plays in our wellbeing.

At CRP, we work on a range of projects that realign the importance of a clean and safe environment on our health. Projects such as Healthy Streets Everyday, Clean Air Villages and Clean Air Thames are dedicated to improve air quality through collaboration and positively reinforce London’s residents’, businesses’ and visitors’ wellbeing.

If you’re interested in joining and collaborating with us to help improve London’s air quality, please contact CRP Project Officer Anusha Rajamani.

Over the last few months, I have joined CRP every Thursday as part of my Masters in Climate Change at King’s College London. Even remotely, I was warmly welcomed by the whole team and cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by!

I have had the opportunity to work across exciting projects; engaging with local businesses, analysing Vivacity monitoring data and using design tools to create communications content. I was also fortunate to attend a media and communications training by MediaFirst, a workshop on active travel by Groundwork London, CRP’s Lunchtime Launches and meetings with the Central London Sub-Regional Transport Partnership and Clean Air Villages 3 partners.

I am extremely grateful to the whole CRP team for being so welcoming, kind and supportive throughout my internship. I have learnt so much during my short time at CRP and being part of such worthwhile
projects with a great team has been an invaluable experience for me!

On behalf of the whole CRP team, thank you Zoe for all your hard work at CRP!

As Clean Air Villages 3 (CAV3) comes to a close, CRP has prepared five inspiring case studies as part of the solutions developed during the project. Each case study shares experiences, lessons
learned and results of CAV3, in partnership with local authorities, businesses and communities regarding:

shared cargo bike schemes
supporting businesses to switch to electric vehicles
the development of clean air routes across the villages part of the project
Vivacity sensors monitoring traffic and footfall
17 CRP LiveShare sessions offered last year.

CRP is very proud of the successes throughout the CAV3 programme, which have had meaningful and tangible outcomes, including engaging with over 970 businesses, the launch of a shared electric van (EV) scheme launching on the Shepherds Bush area, and the addition of 37 businesses to the CRP Clean Air Villages Directory.

The cargo bike case study will showcase the seven schemes launched to support local businesses, community organisations, pharmacies, charities and food banks to deliver essential items by zero-emission methods to those vulnerable and isolating.

CAV3 also tracked 18,000 miles of driving behaviour to inform users of diesel and petrol vehicles the best electric vehicle alternatives available to them.

14 new Clean Air Routes have been created to encourage people to breathe better in their area. An additional case study focusing on Vivacity monitoring showcases how monitoring traffic and footfall in 9 local authorities and 4 BIDs has helped organisations to better understand their areas.

Finally, CRP’s LiveShare case study showcases the 17 interactive webinar events, which promoted behaviour change to improve local air quality at both local and national scales.

Roll on Clean Air Villages 4!

For more information, please contact CRP Project Officer Carina Mesquita.

As part of the Clean Air Villages 3 project, CRP is excited to announce that registration for the shared electric van will be available over the next few months. Please register your interest via this short form.

This will be the second shared electric scheme available for businesses in London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham – the Fulham van is also currently available.

Landsec at West12 Shopping Centre have been a great stakeholder in this project and will be facilitating the space for the van and charging access.

For more information on how to take advantage of this scheme please get in contact with CRP Senior Project Officer Laura Jacklin.

Archives: News Articles

Sustrans Big Pedal 2021!

CRP’s Spotlight On: Hatton Garden BID

Clean Air Villages 4 Update

Support for Local Businesses

Earth Day: Successful Sustainable Development in London

CRP’s Staff Spotlight On: Laura Jacklin

World Health Day, Wednesday 7th April

Zoe Greindl reflects on her Internship at CRP

Upcoming Best Practice Case Studies

Shepherds Bush Shared Electric Van Launching Soon