New initiatives intended to cut pollution from deliveries and generally improve air quality are being trialled in various London boroughs with the help of new funding.
A total of 15 boroughs competed for a share of the £1m Mayor’s Air Quality Business Fund of which five boroughs were announced as winners and named as ‘Business Low Emissions Neighbourhoods’.
The funds are being used for measures including a shared electric vehicle for deliveries in Islington and research to explore the possibility of installing lockers for deliveries in the vicinity of Archway station to help residents avoid missed deliveries and provide an alternative to getting their online shopping delivered to work, in order to cut down on pollution and congestion in central London.
Meanwhile in Southwark, work by the Better Bankside and Team London Bridge Business Improvement Districts will include a project to consolidate parcel deliveries so that they are sent into one location and distributed via a low or zero-emission vehicle to reduce congestion and pollution. Measures also include anti-idling campaigns.
Measures in the various boroughs will also look to make walking and cycling more attractive.
And around £100,000 in remaining funding will support some elements of a Low Emission Neighbourhood around Homerton Hospital. This will provide electric vehicle charge points which will be used by the hospital and the public, as well as walking and cycling routes and facilities for the 1.5m patients and 4,000 staff each year.
