Sheffield Green Party Councillors have proposed a new delivery hub for businesses in Sheffield City Centre.
Green Councillor Ruth Mersereau, who represents City Ward, successfully proposed that the Council’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Committee add to its workplan a feasibility study for a last mile e-cargo delivery hub for the city centre, in order to reduce emissions. The Green Group has previously proposed the establishment of an e-cargo delivery hub in its amendments to the council’s budget.
Councillor Mersereau said,
“With the introduction of Clean Air Zones in many cities, new ways of delivering goods to shops using electric vehicles and cargo bikes are being trialled. This is something we should be doing in Sheffield.
“In Glasgow, a last mile delivery hub launched in September as part of a £300 million investment in electrification of delivery services (1). In London, after four months of operations, the e-cargo bikes operating from the Pimlico hub travelled nearly 6000 miles, which led to a reduction in emissions of CO2, NOx, and harmful particulates when compared to petrol and diesel van deliveries.(2) There are other trials being undertaken in the London Borough of Wandsworth and in Holmfirth (3).
“There are now a variety of electric powered cargo bikes available, each with the capacity to deliver 190kg of goods to businesses in city centres. (4) E- cargo bikes will not be the only solution, but can play a big role, alongside electric delivery vehicles.
“It is not just air quality that improves by using e-cargo bikes. It also means safer and quieter city streets with less heavy, noisy and polluting vans and lorries. It can also reduce the number of delivery vans parked on kerbs, making our city centre a healthier and more pleasant place. That has to be good news for our environment, for people and for business.
“This is exactly the sort of project that funding from the Clean Air Zone should be used to support. We can reduce the number of polluting vehicles in our city centre and at the same time time enable viable, less polluting, quieter alternatives.
References
- Amazon launches electric cargo bike deliveries with Glasgow micromobility hub (fleetnews.co.uk)
- Launch of e-cargo bike ‘last mile’ delivery hub will help improve Wandsworth’s air quality – Wandsworth Borough Council
- How an e-cargo bike is delivering for environmentally-conscious businesses in the Holme Valley – Huddersfield Hub
- Vehicle Solutions – e-cargobikes.com
