How can innovation help to make the way goods and services move around London safer, cleaner and more efficient?
Freight and servicing underpins London’s economy. It keeps the shops and hospitals stocked and London’s businesses running.
However, London’s changing consumption patterns also have undesirable consequences for the city. For example, London has seen major growth in van traffic in recent years, with a 39 per cent increase in kilometres travelled by freight and servicing vehicles alone over the past 25 years. This has contributed to London’s poor air quality, congestion and road danger.
The Mayor’s Freight and Servicing action plan outlines our vision to continue to support a vibrant economy, while also delivering a cleaner, safer and more efficient city. Our challenge is to reimagine how London’s finite space can be used accommodate sustainable modes of transport, whilst still enabling industry to meet the freight and servicing needs of London’s growing population and economy. It also draws attention to the need for new ways to protect and create land for logistics and consolidation, as having depots in the right places reduces the miles travelled by freight vehicles and ensures that the trips made into London are more efficient.
We are looking for innovative solutions that think creatively about ways land or other assets could be used to reduce the adverse impacts of freight and servicing activity, with a focus on making trips more efficient.