Transport for London (TfL) announced that five business groups across London, including Hammersmith BID, will be offered a share of £170,000 of funding for innovative projects that will reduce traffic, ease congestion and improve air quality. This follows on from the Mayor’s recent Freight and Servicing Action Plan, which set out a wide range of measures to tackle some of the challenges caused by freight and help it deliver for London.
The funding from TfL’s Healthy Streets Fund for Business will be matched by the business groups themselves. TfL will work closely with all successful applicants and share lessons learned with businesses across the capital to help support further business-driven change.
Deliveries and servicing are vital to London’s economy. Half the value of household expenditure, around £79 billion, relies strongly on road freight. However, goods vehicle movements in the capital have increased by around 20 per cent since 2010 and this contributes to poor air quality, congestion and road danger. Many freight movements are made in the morning peak, when there are higher numbers of vulnerable road users.
Hammersmith BID has been awarded £50,000 funding for a new freight hub, to enable businesses to receive and sort more deliveries at a single location. This will help reduce the number of freight vehicles needed to service Hammersmith, particularly at peak times.
Patricia Bench, Hammersmith BID Director, says “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding which will help us achieve our objectives to reduce the number of, and emissions from, freight and goods vehicles in our town centre. We look forward to working together with TfL and our partners to achieve these goals.”
Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said: “We have no option but to be smarter in how our streets work. With London’s population growing, congestion is not only costly and inefficient for businesses, but has a damaging knock-on effect on air quality and our environment.
“I’m delighted that this funding will not only support innovative projects that reduce the impact of the growing number of deliveries and collections, but also enable more employees to walk and cycle to work. Working with businesses, the roll out of these schemes will keep our city moving, helping improve health and quality of life for everyone.”
Emily Herreras-Griffiths, TfL’s Travel Demand Management Programme Director, said: “We’ve seen from our work with businesses across the capital the value that small changes to the way that deliveries and other services are made can bring. Using the same suppliers as your neighbour and embracing alternatives such as cycle freight can cut congestion, clean up our air and save money. We’re really pleased to be working with these business groups to invest in areas across London. Our work will help us to create and maintain clean, welcoming and safe streets in which business can thrive while contributing to the capital’s continued growth.”
