News Articles Archive - Page 97 of 158 - Cross River Partnership

As part of the Clean Air Villages, Defra-funded Air Quality Grant programme and in collaboration with London Borough of Lambeth, Zipcar and Brixton BID, a fully electric van is now available for businesses in Brixton to use.

CRP business engagement in Brixton led to the development of an idea involving a shared electric vehicle. London Borough of Lambeth were able to secure funding for the vehicle itself and enable Zipcar to lease their first fully electric van. The Renault Kangoo ZE named ‘Evie’ will be free for the first year to local businesses.

The scheme aims to promote behaviour change around the concept of shared vehicle clubs and electric vehicles. The scheme will reduce pollution in the area, as every journey made using the electric vehicle will result in zero tailpipe emissions, versus a journey made by a diesel equivalent, which would be highly polluting in comparison. The scheme’s timing is critical, as the ULEZ expands into Brixton come October 2020. Many businesses own vehicles that are not ULEZ compliant. Deciding not to continue to own a vehicle for business use and using a shared scheme could be a real game changer for many businesses. It could significantly reduce costs and reduce the number of unnecessary journeys made, resulting in reduced pollution and congestion.

For further information, please contact CRP’s Kate Fenton: katefenton@crossriverpartnership.org

Cross River Partnership is delighted to be working with Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Wandsworth Councils on the South London Innovation Corridor. SLIC is a partnership between the four boroughs to develop the local creative and digital industries by offering;

• business support
• talent development and
• affordable workspace

We are developing a commissioning framework for the Talent Development strand that outlines cross-borough creative and digital employment initiatives to support disadvantaged groups into work in the creative and digital industries. The framework will also outline initiatives that support career progression. We will examine the causes of the lack of diversity within the creative and digital industries, the most efficient and effective interventions so far, as well as the best approach to commissioning talent development schemes.

CRP is collaborating with John Roseveare Projects on the delivery of this exciting commission.

We look forward to sharing our results early next year!

For more information, please email CRP Project Manager, Sefinat Otaru, or Project Officer, Rachael Aldridge.

Sylvia Barrett, Research Manager at Centre for London, presented the Green Light report to the Central London Sub Regional Transport Partnership (CLSRTP), coordinated by CRP, at their last meeting. The report outlines a new road-user charging scheme aimed to help create a healthier, more liveable London.

London has long been a forerunner in transport innovation, particularly when it comes to road-user charging. The introduction of the Congestion Charge in 2003 followed by the ULEZ in 2019 encouraged better use of road space, with the latter helping combat the air quality challenges the capital faces. Data suggests that roadside NO2 concentrations in London have decreased by 29% as a direct result of the ULEZ.

City Move is a proposed distance-based digital platform and app which would replace both the existing Congestion Charge and ULEZ, creating a single pan-London charging system for all. This proposed scheme aims to be fairer for road-users by reflecting the impact of individual journeys, charging less for drivers using cleaner vehicles and travelling in less congested areas. Above all, the platform would encourage drivers to leave their vehicles at home by suggesting alternative travel options.

As London is always looking ahead for new and innovative ways to manage its traffic, could this be on the agenda for the future of road-user charging in the capital?

Please visit the CLSRTP project page or contact Tom Linton-Smith for more information.

We are honoured to have won Best Collaboration for our DEFRA-funded Clean Air Villages (CAV1) project at the CIEH Excellence Awards 2019.

Held at the Marriot Hotel in Regents Park on November 14th, the awards ceremony provided us with a great opportunity to meet with other environmental health practitioners and learn about their fantastic and inspirational achievements in environmental health.

The best collaboration category awarded the most innovative, engaged and successful partnership scheme which demonstrated successful influence and impact on public protection.

Thank you to all our partners from the first year of the project – London Boroughs of Lambeth (lead authority), Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Lewisham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and of course, DEFRA – without whom this project would not have been possible!

Click here to read more about the award and the judges’ comments on the project. CRP is currently working on CAV2 which builds on the success of this award-winning project.

This month we are launching CRP’s Countdown to Christmas Campaign! Beginning Monday 25th November we’ll be using social media to showcase a selection of great businesses from our Clean Air Villages supplier directory.

Whether its champagne for your office party, or flowers for that special someone, these businesses are all using low or zero emission vehicles to help deliver a greener, cleaner Christmas! Keep your eyes on our Twitter to follow the entire Christmas Campaign and watch out for a special addition to the directory coming soon!

According to Defra (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), ‘air quality is the largest environmental health risk in the UK’. With London’s roads regularly exceeding World Health Organisation guidelines for dangerous emissions, air quality needs tackling.

CRP has successfully applied for funding from Defra’s Air Quality Grant in the previous three rounds, and has been delivering an award-winning Clean Air Villages air quality project that has been working with businesses to support in streamlining deliveries and servicing in order to reduce local congestion and pollution.

CRP has submitted a joint application for the next round of Defra funding, with 16 project partners* coming together from across London with the aim to collaborate on an air quality project that would deliver local and wider air quality improvements.

The photo (above) is from recent Clean Air Villages business engagement in Covent Garden, Westminster. CRP surveyed food and beverage sector businesses about their deliveries, in order to propose a solution to implement that will result in reduced congestion and pollution.

For further information, please contact CRP’s Kate Fenton.

*Westminster City Council as lead authority with; London Boroughs of Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Wandsworth, City of London Corporation, and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, as well as Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) angel.london, The Fitzrovia Partnership, Northbank BID and South Bank BID.

Historic England held a Conference on Lighting on 25th October 2019, to coincide with the Where Light Falls display at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

It was an information-packed day of talks and discussion, with contributions from organisations including the Greater London Authority, the City of London Corporation, Speirs and Major, Signify, Central, and LUCIE.

The Mayor’s Night Time Czar, Amy Lame, encouraged a holistic approach to the night time and lighting, and welcomed the linkages that CRP is drawing out to mental health and wellbeing issues, depression alleviation and health costs abatement potential.

If Lighting is something that you are interested in collaborating on, please get in touch with CRP Director, Susannah Wilks.

The National Lottery has set up The Climate Action Fund and is a potential way of building on the scale, scope and lifetime of many excellent CRP partner project community activities that are already underway.

The Deadline for expressions of interest is: 18th December, 2019.

If this Fund is something that you are interested in bidding for on a collaborative basis, please get in touch with CRP Director, Susannah Wilks.

Our two-and-a-half year Smart Electric Urban Logistics (SEUL) project was celebrated in style at London’s City Hall, in a joint event with the Greater London Authority on 4th November. Project partners UPS, UK Power Networks, CRP and UK Power Networks Services were invited to join Gnewt and the GLA to share initial results from both Innovate UK-backed Low Emission Freight Trial projects.

The SEUL project has seen 20 UPS trucks converted to fully electric models, supported by an innovative smart charging system integrating energy storage. This has delivered significant benefits in terms of reduced emissions on London’s streets, which were outlined on the day by Andy Eastlake from the LowCVP.

The audience, including members from local and national government, as well as the vehicle and energy industries, heard from each of the SEUL project partners about the successes and lessons from the project, and had the chance to pose their own questions in an insightful Q&A panel session. CRP’s Tom Linton-Smith described the importance of collaboration across sectors and early liaison with energy suppliers, as fleet operators transition to electric vehicles.

Much more information, including project factsheets and postcards can be found on the SEUL project page. Many thanks to the GLA for hosting the event, and to all our project partners for such a successful and innovative project!

Recently, the Clean Air Villages (CAV) team have been out and about in Brixton to talk to as many businesses as possible in the local area about a new shared electric van which will be available for them to use for free!

Brixton has long been recognised as an air pollution hotspot, with traffic, congestion and old diesel vehicles contributing to high pollution levels. Cross River Partnership are working with Zipcar, Lambeth Council and Brixton BID to launch this new scheme as part of the CAV project to encourage businesses to switch to cleaner modes of transport for their deliveries and pick ups, in turn helping reduce the levels of air pollution in the local area, and promote long term positive change.

The CAV team were promoting the van all over the Brixton, and engaged with over 200 businesses around Pop Brixton, Brixton Village Market, Electric Avenue and Brixton Station Road. The team received good reception from both large shops and market stalls, and felt there was a real buzz around the idea in the area!

The electric van on offer is a Renault Kangoo ZE, and will have a dedicated parking bay next to a charge point on Pulross Road. It is hoped the van will enable businesses to work together to improve local air quality, reducing the number of vehicles on congested roads.

A small number of businesses will be trialling the use of the van from 25th November, with the full launch taking place on 3rd December.

If you would be interested in using the shared electric van for your business, please contact Kate Fenton (CAV Project Manger) for more information.

Archives: News Articles

London’s first shared electric van for businesses launches in Brixton

Developing the Creative & Digital Industries in South London

Is ‘City Move’ the future of road-user charging in London?

CRP Win at the 2019 Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Excellence Awards

We’re Counting Down to a Green Christmas

CRP Submits Application to Defra’s Air Quality Grant Programme

Be part of the future of lighting in London

Applications open for Climate Action Fund

Smart Electric Urban Logistics final event

We are Electrifying Brixton