Agenda item

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Director of the Built Environment providing Members with an update on work to date to reduce the impact of freight on City streets.

Members thanked Officers for a well drafted, specialist report.

A Member highlighted the reference within the report to ‘River Logistics’. He stated that, whilst he was in general agreement with these proposals, fuel standards for river transport were significantly lower that those of road vehicles. He therefore questioned the overall effect that this was likely to have on air quality. He concluded by stating that the Port of London Authority (PLA) were currently working on exhaust scrubbers and encouraged Officers to work collaboratively with them on this.

The same Member went on to refer to the work being carried out alongside Ford Mobility to trial multi-modal delivery using pedestrian porters in the Square Mile. He expressed concern that this could add to the already overly congested pedestrian pathways in the City and create more opportunities for accidents.

Another Member stated that she was concerned that some work in this area was not progressing quickly enough. With regard to ‘River Logistics’ she referred to cities in Europe that had introduced electric vehicles only to their waterways with great success. The Member referred also to the City’s carparks and suggested that these should not be hastily sold off as they could prove strategically important spaces going forward.

The Deputy Chairman also spoke on river logistics, agreeing that work here should continue to drive forward as soon as possible as he was of the view that the River Thames was a fantastic, underused resource for the City at present. Officers were pleased to report that Air Quality funding had now been secured from the Mayor of London to enable them to trial the cleanest possible vehicles on the river. This work would also be co-ordinated with the PLA’s Air Quality Strategy.

A Member questioned whether Amazon were included within the proposals around last mile logistics. Officers clarified that they were in discussions with Amazon who were also looking at the use of logistic hubs.

Officers reported that freight deliveries in London were generally encouraged from 7-9am and that they had met with London Councils to ask that they reconsider how this would work for the Square Mile. They added that they were trying to move further and faster in this area than both TfL and the Mayor of London but were equally reliant on the support of a variety of other stakeholders to deliver the freight programme.

A Member questioned whether there were any statistics available to demonstrate the impact of the introduction of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ). The Chair highlighted that there was further detail on this at item 18. He added that pace was very important here and that the development community were already very aware of this agenda. He concluded by stating that it was very important to carry out this work in a considered and planned manner.

RESOLVED – That Members note the contents of the report.