News Articles Archive - Page 71 of 148 - Cross River Partnership

On 24th September 2020, CRP held its twice yearly Board meeting on a virtual basis, ably Chaired by Simon Pitkeathley of Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town BIDs, and Councillor Wendy Hyde of the City of London Corporation.

The meeting was attended by representatives from 22 different London public, private and community sector organisations, including CRP’s newest BID member, Midtown BID. The Board made a number of key decisions to support CRP moving forwards over the next six months and beyond:

CRP to commission a study to complement the Mayor of London’s study, to define collaborative, clear and complementary post-Covid roles (and how to achieve them) for the different parts of London – ‘central centre’ (Central Activity Zone – CAZ) and local centres across 10 central London boroughs, within a London-wide context.

CRP to prepare and submit a collaborative bid to Defra’s 2021-2022 Air Quality grant, with Westminster City Council acting as lead partner on behalf of all the bid partners.

CRP to continue with virtual working of the team and delivery of projects.

The meeting was a fantastic endorsement of all of the work that the CRP partners and team deliver together: “We can only achieve our ambitions if we all work together. CRP is a great partnership for ensuring this happens.” Councillor Heather Acton, Westminster City Council.

For further information about any strategic CRP matters, please don’t hesitate to contact CRP’s Director Susannah Wilks.

CRP is excited to announce the expansion of the CRP Clean Air Villages Directory to Gray’s Inn Road! As part of our work in Camden, we are looking to implement cleaner deliveries and servicing trips carried out by businesses in this area while also promoting the consolidation hub that is extremely useful for reducing emissions associated with last mile deliveries. Gray’s Inn Road is also partially within the Midtown BID area.

The businesses that have been added to the directory from Gray’s Inn Road are varied, and across the food and beverage sector, as well as dry cleaners and courier companies. An example is Toast Ale, a craft beer and surplus bread company that donate money to fix and change the food system. They also deliver using the local PedalMe cargo bike service, reducing their emission from start to end.

For more information on how your business can be featured in the directory, please see here. If you are interested in how your business can use cargo bikes for deliveries, please contact CRP Project Officer Anusha Rajamani.

CRP’s first-ever Ambassador Programme opened its virtual doors to applicants a month ago and has seen some incredible applications thus far! The AQ Ambassador Programme is the solution for the City of London Corporation Clean Air Village. Aimed at engaging and empowering community members to be advocates for improved air quality, this programme is more important than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While London is piecing itself back together from the effects of the pandemic, it’s important that we don’t forget about the (unseen) elephant in the room: air pollution. Research has linked poor air quality with higher death rates from COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, scientists estimated that 9,500 premature deaths each year in London were a result of air pollution (KCL, 2015). Never has there been a more pressing time for all of us to work together towards ensuring a cleaner, healthier and sustainable future for all Londoners. Interested in becoming an Ambassador championing that change? Apply here. New deadline is midnight, October 11th – we can’t wait to have you on board.

For more information, please contact CRP Project Officer Stav Friedman.

Business and community engagement are in full swing, with the CRP team contacting businesses in all CRP Clean Air Villages.

To better understand what is happening and what support we can give to you as a business, we have created village specific summaries, which can be found at the bottom our project page. Last week we had cargo bikes going to visit businesses to see how this green delivery service could work for their local deliveries. Ecofleet went to meet Mai Thai Restaurant in Wimbledon, who are looking to use the service for local journeys.

For more information, please contact CRP Senior Project Officer Laura Jacklin.

We are very excited to announce the launch of our new CRP Healthy Streets Everyday (HSE) website, featuring an interactive map showing initiatives across all HSE partner boroughs, BIDs and landowner locations. Users can search for specific School Streets, Parklets, Play Streets, Low Emission Neighbourhoods, Streetscape improvements and more! In addition, we’ve made it easy for users to find out who to contact to set up their own School Streets or Play Streets. Simply scroll to the ‘Your Questioned Answered’ section, input a postcode and you’re on your way.

Users also have the option to share their own Healthy Streets initiatives to be uploaded to the interactive map – a handy form is available on all location pages as well as the home page. Conveniently, the latest Healthy Streets Stories are now all in one place. Click a location to see the latest updates on projects making London’s streets safer and more pleasant places to be. Check out the website and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear your feedback.

The new webpage will home all of HSE’s present and upcoming guidance documents and case studies, as well as useful resources from other organisations that facilitate Healthy Streets across London and beyond. Now more than ever, Healthy Streets are vital to support community’s COVID-19 responses by enabling walking and cycling, improving air quality, and in turn reducing the risk of vulnerable people developing underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of having more severe symptoms from COVID-19.

For more information about the new webpages and the CRP Healthy Streets Everyday programme more broadly, please contact CRP HSE Project Manager Fiona Coull.

We are now over halfway through the CRP programme of 16 LiveShares – thank you to all of those who have attended so far! We have been joined by experts from across the industries of transport, business and environment, discussing a range of topics to help facilitate knowledge sharing and lessons of best practice.

Continuing to bring industry experts together, our next LiveShare will be no exception, so make sure you tune in this Clean Air Day, Thursday October 8th at 2pm! This session will look at operating sustainably, a north-south perspective on UK transport and COVID-19. We will be joined by the London Borough of Lambeth, Transport for Greater Manchester and will also be speaking about the CRP Clean Air Villages programme. This session will bring both London and Manchester together, enabling a unified approach to clean transport and COVID-19 recovery. To reserve your space, sign up here!

If you are not able to make a session, don’t worry! All of our LiveShares are posted on the CRP YouTube channel for you to view and share whenever you like. Remember to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to receive all our LiveShare updates and upcoming sessions. We hope to see you very soon!

For more information, please contact CRP Guidance Manager Tomos Joyce.

26th September 2020 has been declared as World Environmental Health Day by the International Federation of Environmental Health. The key theme for this year is disease pandemic prevention which is particularly important now more than ever because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental health practitioners play a pivotal role, in disaster preparedness and response, investigating outbreaks of infectious diseases, prevention of spread of infectious diseases along with inspections of numerous food, health and other establishments to ensure compliance monitoring of pandemic regulations and protocols. Click here for more details on events and how to get involved.

For further information, please contact CRP Operations Manager Carol Quamina.

The Mayor of London has announced a major new piece of research into the future challenges and opportunities facing central London and the Canary Wharf area, which have both suffered a sudden and rapid reduction in footfall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mayor has commissioned the research to help City Hall and its partners understand the emerging trends that could affect London’s city centre economy, including cultural and economic changes that may become the new normal as the city recovers.

The London Transition Board has been leading on tackling the immediate challenges of reopening central London and ensuring a safe return to work for Londoners.

From London to Lahti, 2,758 cities in 49 countries across Europe (and the world) will be putting a spotlight on zero-emission transport and mobility strategies to improve air quality and contribute to healthier cities, as part of European Mobility Week 2020. This is taking place from 16th – 22nd September 2020.

London are continuing to be part of this by encouraging active travel options by creating improved conditions for walking and cycling. This is critical as more Londoners go back to work and many are choosing more sustainable and active travel options.

Improving active travel options are a critical part of all CRP projects, particularly Healthy Streets Everyday. Recent COVID-19 rules have removed the possibility of many in-person events, but it is critical as more Londoners go back to work and choose sustainable and active travel options, and to increase safe space for walking and cycling provision for children going back to school, through School Streets.

Keep an eye out for brilliant online events and tools that improve cycling and walking in your area as part of European Mobility Week and Car Free Day 2020, and improve your cycling confidence through TfL’s new online, free cycling training.

A new study produced by CBI Economics, on behalf of the Clean Air Fund, has said 3 million working days are lost every single year because of air pollution.

According to the report, improving air pollution targets in line with World Health Organisation guidelines could not only prevent 17,000 premature deaths every single year, but it could also boost the economy by reducing premature deaths, sickness absence and lower productivity at work. This £1.6bn benefit would be on top of savings to NHS and social care budgets from treating fewer patients with health conditions associated with air pollution.

Now is the time to act on air pollution. Are you located in one of our village areas? Please see our Clean Air Villages page and get in touch.

For more information, please contact CAV Project Manager Kate Fenton.

Archives: News Articles

CRP’s Board Meeting

CRP Clean Air Villages Directory – now available in Gray’s Inn Road

Air Quality Ambassadors Application: Deadline Extended!

How the CRP Clean Air Villages programme is supporting businesses in the Autumn!

New CRP Healthy Streets Everyday Website Launched!

CRP’s next LiveShare session: Keep Informed

World Environmental Health Day!

Mayor to commission major new research into future of central London

European Mobility Week 2020

Reducing Air Pollution could boost UK Economy by £1.6bn a year