Green Business Schemes

What are Westminster City Council doing to make the borough greener?

Below are just some examples of how the Council are taking steps to become greener as a borough

  • For businesses in Westminster who can demonstrate that they have taken active measures to operate in a more environmentally friendly way, Westminster City Council will award businesses for their efforts to do business more responsibly. In order to be put forward for the accreditation, you must complete an application and submit it to us. Please click here if you wish to apply.

     

  • The City Council considers all requests from cyclists, residents and local businesses for the implementation of Cycle stands on the street near to an existing or new workplaces. For more information and to suggest any new locations please contact RoadSafety@westminster.gov.uk

    https://www.westminster.gov.uk/cycling

  • In 2018/19 the City Council will be seeking to work with a small and trial number of local businesses, freight and logistics companies and Transport for London to determine the viability of implementing modest changes to the kerbside that assist the deliveries of goods and services to local businesses outside of the West End Partnership area. Given that many residents live centrally and often above the ground floor of many shops, companies, visitor attractions, education establishments etc the development of ‘overnight delivery’ schemes will not be pursued but there is prospect to amend the evening and early morning ‘Shoulder hours’ of permitted delivery times at some locations. For more information regarding this new project please contact RoadSafety@westminster.gov.uk

  • A government programme that incentivises the use of renewable and low-carbon electricity generated technologies. The scheme is available to businesses and households who have installed or are looking to install the following technology types: Solar photovoltaic (solar PV); Wind; Micro combined heat and power (CHP); Hydro; and anaerobic digestion (AD). FIT payments are made by your energy supplier from the date you become eligible for the scheme.

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit

  • Extending the diesel surcharge on pay and display parking across the city to prevent diesel vehicles from adding to the pollution within Westminster. This has already been trialled within the Marylebone LEN and evidence from this pilot revealed a 14% reduction in the total number of most polluting vehicles present within the borough as a result of this surcharge.

  • Westminster parking permits currently costs £145 a year. To encourage the adoption of lower emission vehicles amongst residents, we offer a discount to vehicles with smaller engines where permits cost £103 per annum. Ultra-low emission vehicles receive free permits.

  • Westminster has the largest electric vehicle charging network in the UK. We have pioneered the installation of different types of charging, including lamp column chargers. We are also going to work with developers and businesses who operate sites like fuelling stations to encourage further the installation of a much more extensive charging infrastructure across the city.

  • We have introduced a range of policies to minimise emissions from new developments and construction sites. This ranges from enforcing the Mayor of London’s new policy on emissions from construction equipment, to requiring all developers to sign up to a stringent Code of Construction Practice to manage their own emissions effectively. We will work with the heritage and planning sectors to see how we can make retrofitting property more affordable. We will use licencing and planning enforcement powers to discourage wood burning and, where appropriate, force the removal of dirty generators.

Contact

Contact the Westminster Business Unit to get information and advice on affordable workspace, business support, employment and training, business rates, licensing, and more.

The easiest way to get in contact with us is via our web form, which can be found here.

Newsletter

Our business e-newsletter is sent out monthly and keeps you up-to-date with:

  • Special offers and discounts for businesses
  • Advice for SMEs and start-ups
  • Events and training opportunities
  • Ways to help support the community and develop your CSR policy
  • Commercial services available to businesses

 

To read previous editions of the business e-newsletter, please click here