A number of activities are carried out as part of the South London Freight Quality Partnership, please click one of the links below to find out more:

• Freight Industry Stakeholder Surveys
• Freight Consolidation Centre
• Construction Logistics Plans
• Loading / Unloading Code of Practice
• Legal Loading Initiative
• PCN Hotspots
• Communications
• Set up a Trial of Night Time Deliveries
• Freight Planning and Routing
• Freight Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) Forum
• Night Time Delivery Seminar
• Chessington Industrial Estate (Kingston)

Transport operators, drivers and the businesses they serve all have an interest in improving the way that urban areas are designed to accommodate deliveries and goods movements. The South London FQP has produced a set of three surveys to help us understand how the issues facing the freight industry are perceived in the South London area.

These surveys have already been distributed in co-operation with the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association and local business organisations, (e.g. chambers of commerce) to their members.

The responses will also help form the basis of the future South London FQP workplan. If you would like to contribute then please download the surveys and post using the freepost address on the form.

Freight Consolidation Centres offer the potential to significantly reduce the number of goods vehicle movements required to serve the needs of businesses. This principle can be applied to any sector; for example it is already incorporated into the dedicated logistics networks of many national retail businesses and has also been demonstrated in London in the construction sector through the Pilot Construction Materials Consolidation Centre.

The principle of consolidation centres in the retail sector has been successfully demonstrated over a number of years in the controlled environment of Heathrow Airports, and more recently in a trial serving the Broadmead shopping centre in Bristol . Since its inception the South London Freight Quality Partnership has been taking initial steps to investigate the possibility if implementing this concept for the retail sector with a view to realising potential benefits such as:

Reduce the number of delivery vehicles operating in the area;

• Reduce the conflict between vehicles in loading areas and delivery bays;
• Provide the opportunity for value-added services to retailers such as waste and packaging collection, item level inventory management, seasonal and peak storage facilities;
• Contribute to traffic reduction in sensitive local areas;
• Contribute to improving air quality in the area;
• Contribute to a reduction in existing supply chain costs.

Detailed surveys with retailers were conducted in Croydon, Sutton and Bromley town centres as the first stage of a detailed feasibility study into freight consolidation.

The full feasibility study was completed in December 2007 and is availabe to download here.

It outlines clearly some of the barriers that still need to be overcome in order to implement freight consolidation centers to serve South London, but also identifies where opportunities exist.

SLFQP intends to hold a workshop to take this forward in Spring 2008.

Construction Logistics Plans are one of the key elements identified within the London Freight Plan.  Due to significant developments proposed in the Croydon area that are likely to be enter the construction phase in the near future SLFQP has initiated discussions with Croydon Council, logistics providers and some of the relevant developers and their lead contractors to establish how the effects of the construction phase can be best managed through best logistics practice.  A workshop to discuss this issue was held in Croydon on 18 th March 2008 and we expect to be able to work with all parties in the coming months to explore the practicalities of implementing construction logistics plans that will provide tangible benefits to all parties as these developments are constructed. Outputs from the workshop are available to download here

The London Loading/Unloading Code of Practice is essentially a set of guidelines aimed at delivery staff, parking enforcement officers and highway authorities. It aims to bring together these representatives to collectively develop and promote best practice where loading/unloading is an ongoing problem, with the long term goal of improving the competitiveness of business in London, and to support London 's overall economic performance. The Code of Practice essentially aims to promote a more co-operative approach to these issues. It is the aim of the FQP to encourage the South London Boroughs to adopt the Code of Practice into their work practice.

Linked to the London Loading / Unloading Code of Practice, inadequate provision of on- and off-street loading and unloading facilities can hinder the delivery of goods. If combined with inconsiderate delivery practices lack of adequate planning for freight can create additional congestion by obstructing the 'right of way' for other vehicles and increasing the possibility of an accident occurring. Inconsistent and over-zealous implementation of parking restrictions on those involved in making deliveries can lead to an excessive number of penalty change notices (PCNs) being issued, with significant negative impacts on logistics providers and the local economy.

The South London FQP has worked with the freight transport industry, the local authorities and local businesses in identifying where the problems exist in terms of loading bay provision, delivery practices and PCN hotspots.

Six sites were identified during the Autumn 2006, and subsequent reporting and recommendations were completed by the Spring 2007. Since then, a number of sites have been selected for implementing a number of the recommendations made, in further consultation with relevant borough officers, with a view to providing adequate legal loading facilities combined with an active, appropriate level of enforcement, leading to reduced congestion, noise, conflict and unnecessary costs on business and improved safety and noise.

Implementation work has begun in Bromley with a short stay parking bay to be installed in the vicinity of Market Square to provide somewhere for private cars to stop as an alternative to the loading bay which is currently badly abused for this purpose. Once the short stay parking bay an information campaign will be run as to its true purpose and this will be backed up by enhanced CCTV enforcement of the loading bay aimed at those who ignore the new facility and information.

The London Borough of Merton has conducted an audit of loading facilities and restrictions in Morden and transfered this information to an easy to read format. The resulting map has been distributed through local businesses to those people and organisations who are actually making deliveries in the area. The map is also available to download here. Merton will be replicating this activity for Wimbledon and Colliers Wood early in 2009.

The Legal Loading Initiative is clearly directly linked to those locations where legal loading and unloading is problematic. We have been developing a formal list of such PCN hotspots, in co-operation wit the Boroughs and are now conducting a review of how PCNs are issued and the associated data that is collected based on information submitted from our partner Boroughs. The aim is to work with TfL, the other London FQPs and our partner Boroughs to develop an enhanced, London-wide information system for freight-related PCNs. It is envisaged that this could involve upgrades to parking attendants' PDA systems and also existing back office information systems.

The Communications strand is committed to an on-going programme of events aimed at raising both the awareness and the profile of the South London FQP, its aims and objectives. A number of these events are aimed at buy-in from relevant contacts from the local borough councils involved in the project.

Night time deliveries have potential benefits, such as removal of large vehicles from the network during the day at times when it would probably be more congested and the reduction of the peak level of noise and air pollution. However, night time deliveries are not always feasible either for businesses or without creating unacceptable nuisance as part of the process.

A review of best practice in night time deliveries has recently been conducted and as a results guidance has been puiblished in two parts reflecting different targets firstly in terms of best practice advice to planners, published by the Department for Transport and secondly in terms of a 'toolkit' available from the Freight Transport Association, outlining the steps and processes involved in setting up a night-time delivery trial.

Following this guidance South London FQP has been working with Borough planning officers and local businesses to identify sites suitable for a pilot Night Time Delivery Scheme.

20th April 2007
A Night-time deliveries workshop was organised on the 20th April in Croydon by the South London Freight Quality Partnership, in association with South London Business Ltd. People attending the seminar were retailers, associations and local authorities. It was an opportunity for them to discuss night-time deliveries with speakers from the Freight Transport Association, TfL Freight Unit and Sainsbury's

Presentation: Delivering the Goods FRA
Overview of Seminar: Overview

TfL is planning to enhance their existing journey planning website to include freight routing information, providing them with information in the form of recommended routes to particular destinations and about roads that are not suitable for their journeys. This initiative will now progress under the banner of the Freight Information Portal, the first stage will involve the collection of all th e loading and unloading restrictions in London. Data gathering is expected to commence during 2008.

The Freight Operator Recognition Scheme is an initiative led by Transport for London aimed at improving working practices and providing recognition and benefits to companies who follow best practice within their freight transport operations. It now has five members, including two fleet managers from local Borough Councils in South London.

A forum was hosted by Transport for London on Tuesday 22nd May, aimed at all London Borough Council fleet managers within the South London FQP, to explain more about the scheme and its future benefits to them and to encourage Borough membership both to the FQP and to FORS.

FQP developed a Freight access route and restrictions map for Kingston, to help improve the efficiency of local freight movement and to help ensure freight traffic remains on the most suitable routes. The map is available to download here.