News Articles Archive - Page 75 of 153 - Cross River Partnership

Walking helps to reduce levels of obesity and helps people to get fit. October is International Walk to School Month, taking place across 40 countries encouraging children, parents, teachers and the community to move and embrace the benefits of walking. The event also can be seen as an opportunity for councils to introduce 20 mph speed limits across school areas, aiming to convert these places in safer local to walk. Walking can promote healthier habits, conserve the environment and encourage a more interactive way to deal with the distance – step by step!

CRP’s Health Streets Everyday has provided guidance and support to partners implement School Streets. The Hackney School Street Hotline has been supporting walking to school whilst reducing congestion and pollution in school areas. CRP’s Clean Air Route Finder has also supported communities to find the cleanest route to arrive in their destination.

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

It’s National Clean Air Day on Thursday, 8 October 2020. There will be hundreds of events around the country, bringing together people from different backgrounds to raise awareness of indoor and outdoor air pollution, as well as what we can do to tackle it. Everyone is encouraged to try an activity that contributes to better air quality such as walking or cycling instead of driving, or temporarily converting a neighbourhood street to a play street where families can spend time together safely.

CRP is proud to have supported this annual campaign since it launched in 2017. Current CRP projects including Healthy Streets Everyday, Clean Air Villages 3, and Clean Air Thames are all aimed at improving the air we breathe here in London. For other activities, or ideas on what you do, visit the Clean Air Day website.

For more information, please contact CRP Project Manager Sefinat Otaru.

Recent research has estimated that nearly a quarter of us expect to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) for our next car.

This comes from a study by Alphabet, which reports the shift in public attitudes to electric vehicles can be attributed to environmental improvements in cities as a result of the national lockdown. It appears the pandemic has accelerated our desire for cleaner and quieter streets. CRP’s Electric Vehicle Fleet-Centred Local Energy System (EFLES) project is providing a business case for commercial fleets to integrate EVs within a Smart Local Energy System. This can unlock new revenue streams and reduce operational costs for EV fleet operators.

This movement has an impact on the fleet industry too, as over half of respondents felt delivery vans should be electric. On top of that, one in three said they would be happy to pay extra for an electric delivery vehicle. This is undeniably a challenging time for businesses and fleet managers alike. Yet, with this comes the opportunity to rethink and transform how to operate. As customers grow increasingly conscious of the impact of their deliveries, fleets must embrace cleaner alternatives to the combustion engine.

For more information, please contact CRP Air Quality Analysis Officer Abby McDougall.

The Government’s latest retail sales figures show encouraging signs of recovery since lockdown, but what do the figures tell us about the future and the most likely “new norm”?

According to planning consultancy Lichfields, the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis are becoming clearer but the longer term structural implications are harder to predict. In the short term, operators have faced cash flow issues and increased costs arising from a slump in consumer demand and disruption to supply chains. Non-essential products, hospitality and leisure services have been hardest hit. Some retailers able to fulfil online orders/home delivery are benefiting at least in the short term from enforced changes in habits.

There is likely to be a longer term structural shift to on-line shopping, reducing the demand for physical space within town centres. Following the COVID-19 furlough arrangements, there is likely to be a spike in vacancies and some centres may struggle to fully recover. Some centres will need to explore opportunities beyond retail.

Higher order fashion shopping destinations could suffer most from the surge in online shopping. Lower order centres focusing on day-to-day essential items and services have, and should continue to, recover more quickly.

This trend is evident from the Centres for Cities’ high street recovery tracker, which monitors footfall and spend across cities and large towns. Large city centres have been slow to recover with many centres still 30% or more down on footfall and spend during the last week of August compared with pre-lockdown levels. The worst affected city centres in terms of footfall include: London (-69%), Manchester (-51%), Birmingham (-48%), Leeds (-43%) and Nottingham (-41%). These large centres have been the hardest hit due to increased home working and loss of international tourism. As a consequence of increased working from home, these headline figures for larger cities mask increased footfall within many local, district and town centres: which have seen a resurgence in footfall as people work and spend locally.

Some rebalancing from large to smaller centres will be welcomed in many areas, following the extended period of investment polarisation towards the most successful regional shopping destinations. This rebalancing could be sustained if, for example, increased home working continues. Town centres ability to retain market share and compete with on-line sales will be critical for the vitality and viability of town centres in the post-COVID-19 norm. Town centres will need a coherent recovery strategy to have the best prospects of flourishing.

For the full blog, please see here. These issues will be addressed at CRP’s next LiveShare session ‘Operating Sustainably: a North-South perspective on Transport and COVID-19‘.

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.

Archives: News Articles

International Walking to School Month!

Clean Air Day 2020

How COVID-19 is Accelerating the Transition to Electric Vehicles

Post COVID-19 Impact: “New Normal” for the Retail Sector?

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