Memorandum from Central London Freight
Quality Partnership (FT 39)
How effective are the Freight Quality Partnerships
in improving the local experience of freight and deliveries?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Freight Quality Partnerships bring together
the public and private sectors to generate local solutions for
local issues. The aim is to ensure that the Freight Quality Partnership's
bottom-up approach facilitates communication, leading to buy-in
from all parties, and to problem solving on freight and delivery
issues. Freight Quality Partnerships are very well placed to contribute
to the development of local economies through their inputs into
local and multi-area agreements. We believe that if Freight Quality
Partnerships are to achieve their long term goals they require
embedding into the statutory transport and planning structures.
The membership of the Central London Freight Quality Partnership
showcases the wide range of organisations that have a vested interest
in finding solutions to freight industry problems. The Central
London Freight Quality Partnership has already tackled a wide
variety of issues of interest to its members.
1. What can Freight Quality Partnerships
do?
Freight transport and servicing activity underpins
the economy of both the UK and central London. The Freight Quality
Partnerships are the formal mechanism for bringing together the
public and the private sectors to increase the efficiency and
effectiveness of the industry, and hence the efficiency and effectiveness
of the UK and central London economies as a whole. In central
London this is assisted by the Freight Quality Partnership being
managed by the Central London Partnership which is the public/private
sub-regional partnership for the area.
2. What makes Freight Quality Partnerships
worth having?
The key attributes of Freight Quality Partnerships
is that they are flexible and "local", working on an
appropriate scale to achieve local results. A "one size fits
all" approach does not work. The Central London Freight Quality
Partnership has been operational for approximately 18 months.
During that time it has facilitated:
— The establishment of the Freight
Quality Partnership itself and the involvement of a wide variety
of member organisations.
— Physical improvements in the street
scene for transport operators eg improving loading and unloading
space allocation.
— Liaison with the growing van operators
sector in central London to address their specific issues and
problems.
— The compilation and updating of the
London Loading / unloading code of practice.
— Investigation into the introduction
of out-of-hours deliveries.
The greatest challenge faced by local authorities
is in understanding the complex and ever-changing web of supply
chains that comprise the freight industry. It is only by initiating
and improving dialogue between the public and the private sector
that communication takes place and knowledge is gained. The Freight
Quality Partnership is best placed to unpick these issues in a
local context that will progress effective sustainable solutions
to the local issues faced by the freight industry and the communities
within which they work and which they serve.
The wide range of members of the Central London
Freight Quality Partnership indicates the broad role that Freight
Quality Partnerships can play. As well as local and national operators
and local authorities, members include business and trade associations,
pro-London organisations, the Metropolitan Police, Business Improvement
Districts, industry support organisations, freight consultants
and academia.
3. What constraints are there on Freight
Quality Partnership activity?
To build on their initial growth, Freight Quality
Partnerships require embedding within strategic policy frameworks
at all levels. They should be referenced in integrated regional
strategy/regional special strategies; Local Transport Plan/Local
Implementation Plan guidance from government; and local/multi
area agreements. This will facilitate greater private sector input
into the statutory transport, planning and development processes
leading to better outcomes.
Official referencing of Freight Quality Partnerships
would lead to greater certainty of public sector funding. However,
as the Freight Quality Partnerships develop and engage with more
complex issues, there is no reason why they shouldn't act as a
conduit for private sector funding, for both their core administration
costs, as well as the programmes that they promote.
To assist this process it should be incumbent
upon local authorities to employ freight specialists within their
highways and transportation function.
4. Central London Freight Quality Partnership
(CLFQP)
The Central London Freight Quality Partnership
(www.centrallondonfqp.com) was set up by the Central London Partnership
and Transport for London to elicit a common understanding of freight
transport issues and to develop and create innovative solutions
for the delivery and movement of goods relating to central London.
It encompasses the seven central London boroughs of Camden, Islington,
Lambeth, Southwark, City of London, Westminster City Council and
the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Since its formal
launch event in March 2007 the partnership has subsequently grown
to nearly one hundred members representing local authorities,
freight operators, industry trade associations, industry support
services, consultants, academia, London lobby groups, retailers,
Business Improvement Districts etc. A promotional leaflet for
the partnership, a recent activity report and a list of organisations
that are members, or that have attended events organised by the
CLFQP, is attached to this response, to provide more in depth
information about the work undertaken by the partnership.
5. How effective are Freight Quality Partnerships?
Given the above, there should be clear and realistic
expectations for the outputs from Freight Quality Partnerships.
They have a mixed role, operating in both operational and strategic
spheres and being involved in short, medium and long term freight
issues. They will therefore have a range of both qualitative and
quantitative outputs. Through involvement in local and multiple
area agreements they have the potential to play a much wider role
in supporting both local and national economies, which will lead
to a greater appreciation of the essential task that freight performs.
October 2007
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