Freight, servicing and deliveries by commonplace.is

4.9 Freight, Servicing and Deliveries

Related SPD sections

Key City Plan policies

• 4 1 Highway space, Road Safety and Parking

• 4 10 Waste, Cleansing and Maintenance

28. Highway Access and Management

43. Public Realm

Context

Freight, servicing, and delivery (FSD) activities are essential to ensuring the functioning of the city Westminster has a high level of demand for freight, servicing, delivery, and collection services. This means that goods vehicles have a significant impact on traffic congestion, road safety and emissions, as well as potential conflict with other road uses.

Goods vehicles form a considerable part (17%) of total traffic in Westminster. This activity takes place more significantly in the West End and is concentrated in the morning hours. Delivery and collection vehicles make up 85% of goods vehicle movements and are stationary on-street for short periods of time. Servicing vehicles, while making up only 15% of the total goods vehicles, dwell for significantly longer with greater impact on the highway and highway users. The high concentration of commercial activity interspersed with residential development is a particular characteristic of Westminster’s dense, historic urban fabric. This is especially the case in the CAZ including the West End, which creates challenges for the movement, re-moding and re-timing of freight, servicing and deliveries.

There is a risk of freight vehicle collision with pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road uses. In some areas, the peak hours of freight movement overlap with the peak periods for many pedestrian and cyclist movements, especially in the weekday AM peak, where many cyclists are riding to work and many delivery drivers are delivering goods and services to local businesses before they open. Transfer of goods from a FSD vehicle to the delivery point can create obstruction to pedestrians and other highway users

Figure 64 - On street and oﬀ-street occupancy by FSD vehicles (taken from Westminster's Freight, Servicing and Deliveries Strategy and Action Plan)

Many parts of Westminster have streets which are congested, narrow, multi-use and kerbside access is demanded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a range of users, especially in the West End and other parts of the Central Activities Zone (CAZ). The most effective way of managing freight’s impacts on congestion, while allowing efficient operations, is by planning for the needs of freight at an early stage of the statutory planning process. New development can contribute to the management of freight traffic through the provision of dedicated off-street space for servicing, deliveries and collections particularly where multiple developments can share the same facility so as to ensure efficient use of scarce space. This can also enable retiming. Rethinking the public realm to better accommodate lighter/more sustainable logistics will help reduce user conflict, noise disturbance and environmental impacts

The use of consolidation centres can reduce delivery and servicing vehicle numbers, where deliveries are consolidated into one consignment, and delivered at a pre-arranged time. The City Council strongly supports consolidated freight servicing, especially last mile solutions, to maximise the eﬃciency of freight movements, reduce pollution and eradicate FSD related Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) collisions 68 Planning conditions and traﬃc orders can be used to limit and consolidate the times that space can be used for FSD.

Westminster’s Freight Servicing and Deliveries Strategy and Action Plan 69 sets out how to improve FSD operations through:

• Reducing – reducing the number of trips generated by freight, servicing and delivery activity, the time spent in the city and the impact on the local road network and environment; minimise freight movements through macro and micro consolidation initiatives;

• Re-moding – making use of alternative modes (including rail and water), increasing the uptake of zero emission vehicles, and enhancing the infrastructure required to support their use; seek ways to transform the vehicle ﬂeet to less polluting and less dangerous modes that will include the use of hand porterage and cycle delivery, as well as more environmentally friendly vehicles; and

• Retiming – making best use of an extended delivery, collection, and servicing operating window in a managed, monitored and enforced way, utilising non-peak hours. Manage delivery times to avoid conﬂict with other street users, particularly pedestrians and cyclists.

City Plan policy 29, sets an expectation for dedicated on-site, oﬀ-street space to carry out freight, servicing and delivery functions associated with a development. Space and facilities for FSD, including waste collection operations, must be provided on-site and vehicles must be able to pull clear of the public highway without causing obstruction.

For new commercial developments, require provision of EV charging and ﬂoorspace to provide urban depot(s)/microdistribution hub(s) and cargo bike storage/facilities. New commercial developments using consolidation should ideally require all trips to be undertaken using zero emission vehicle ﬂeets, cargo bikes, etc.

Where the council considers that provision of off-street space for FSD is not possible and servicing is to be undertaken on street, it must be demonstrated that it would not lead to adverse safety implications for pedestrians and/or vehicles, the obstruction of traffic and adverse effects on other residential or commercial activity.

Freight, Servicing and Deliveries Guidance

A. Proposals should aim to reduce potential FSD vehicular conﬂict with pedestrians and other vulnerable users of the highway as much as practicable. This includes transfer of goods from vehicle to delivery point.

B. Wherever possible, freight, servicing and deliveries should be integrated within developments and occur in dedicated oﬀ-street space, in order to prioritise public realm space for walking, cycling/the safe movement of people.

68 Supporting the Mayor’s Vision Zero ambition to eliminate all Killed and Serious Injury casualty related collisions by 2041

69 https://www.westminster.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/roads-and-highways/freight-servicing-and-deliveries

C. Any potential negative impact from FSD activities on the public realm and its users should be carefully considered at the outset of any proposal and designed out wherever possible.

Where, as part of a development scheme, some or all of the servicing and delivery needs are met through use of the public highway, the development will need to meet the initial and on-going costs associated with that use of the public highway. In addition, schemes should seek to:

A. Achieve more eﬀective use of on-street loading/unloading bays throughout the 24-hour period.

• Co-location of logistics space and shared use of loading/unloading bays by diﬀerent businesses

• Explore innovative digitally enabled solutions, data sharing and collaborative platforms to optimise logistics eﬃciency.

• Ensure proposals for new bays are justiﬁed in terms of most appropriate location and amount required.

• Proactively identify suitable locations that can support retiming activity while ensuring residential amenity (particularly sleep hours) is not aﬀected.

• Explore shared use of strengthened footway areas (‘loading pads’) for delivery during limited times of the day.

• Maximise usage of underutilised parking infrastructure for medium and long stay servicing

• Seek to consolidate FSD activities at the outset of goods/services journeys particularly by areas or multitenanted buildings, which would allow consolidation at source and reduced number of trips.

• Not result in an adverse environment for pedestrians and other highway users or loss of highway from other uses/functions

B. Ensure public realm design encourages the use of cleaner, quieter and lighter vehicles or more sustainable options for last-mile logistics

• Dedicated on-street bays to accommodate lighter/sustainable logistics so that they are not forced to occupy pedestrian space and cause disruption to pedestrians and other vulnerable users.

• Increase accessibility to the existing cycle infrastructure to cycle-based logistics.

• Increased provision of a range of EV charge points, particularly with over 50 KWh capacity, to support last mile and consolidation through the use of electric vehicles.

• Explore potential for dedicated ground ﬂoor oﬀ-street holding areas to hold goods/waste to facilitate FSD operations.

• Explore potential of supporting the Mayor and TfL in the development of appropriate zero-emission zones and positively adopt the use of zero emission vehicles.

• Explore potential future use of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for FSD activities.

C. Develop and/or use consolidation and micro-distribution facilities, particularly in areas that have greater potential for large-scale regeneration and development.

• Development of consolidation and micro-distribution facilities to help reduce the number of vehicle movements and enable the use of lighter vehicles or more sustainable options for FSD activities.

• Promote the use of loading bays, underused on-street space, oﬀ-street car parking, and underused space, for micro-consolidation hubs/sustainable last-mile logistics operations.

• Increased use of close proximity urban delivery points for last mile/ﬁrst mile delivery/collection by zero emission alternative vehicles.

• Make space within the carriageway to support micro-distribution vehicles delivery process away from the hubs

Delivery, Management and Maintenance

A. Servicing Management Plans are required when the council considers that signiﬁcant FSD activity will be generated on the highway in association to the proposed scheme.

B. Delivery and Servicing Plans (DSPs) may be required for major developments or for schemes referrable to the Mayor of London, and are usually secured by means of a section 106 obligation or other planning condition. Applicants should ensure the principles set out in this guidance, including with regards to the ‘last mile’ of good movement, are incorporated within DSPs.

Servicing Management Plans See: Planning Obligations and Aﬀordable Housing SPD 2024 for costs and calculations.