Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz has written an open letter to the Chair of the Green Street Traders Association in connection with questions traders have raised about the measures that have put in place to support safe social distancing for residents. and overall business support.
You can read the letter in full below:
I hope you and your family are keeping well in what has been an extremely challenging time for us in in Newham in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the risks facing Newham residents in light of all the vulnerabilities that regretfully exist in our borough, as a consequence of deprivation and inequality that have scarred our communities for so long.
Over these past four months, we’ve undertaken herculean efforts to safeguard our residents including the most vulnerable residents who were supported during lockdown through our #HelpNewham local hub. This included some 60,000 food and supplies delivered and 200 tonnes of food provided to voluntary sector organisations as part of the borough-wide response.
As we now enter this new phase of living with Covid-19, ensuring that we do everything that we can to mitigate the risk of a second wave in Newham; I wanted to write to you in light of a series of concerns that you and other business owners in Green Street have raised with local ward Councillors over the past couple of weeks concerning measures that we have put in place to support safe social distancing for our residents and overall business support including the issues of business grants and trading licences. These had initially been passed onto Cllr James Asser, the cabinet member for Environment and Sustainable Transport, who in turn has discussed with me because of aspects of the concerns you raise pertain to my portfolio.
To help arrive at a better understanding of the position and actions of the Council, which have been driven by Covid-19 mitigation requirements placed on us as a local authority (as with all authorities in London and elsewhere) to prevent the Covid-19 transmission and deaths; I have had discussions with Cllr Asser and we agree that there would be real value in arranging a meeting with you and other members of the Green Street Traders Association to discuss.
I am particularly concerned at the misrepresentations that have recently been circulated to our local business community by a local campaign group who are making a series of erroneous claims about what the Council is doing - and why – which are wholly inaccurate. For instance, creating more space to enable residents to shop at a safe social distance is part of a series of requirements placed on us by national government in order to prevent local Covid-19 outbreaks and is driven by our collective public health imperative to prevent the transmission of the virus and more deaths.
It is deeply worrying that such misrepresentations about the Council’s actions are being promoted as this is causing our local business community in Green Street, and elsewhere, great anxiety during what has been a very challenging lockdown time for us all.
As previously stated to you in conversations we’ve had over the past year, I am enthused by the partnership that the Council and the Green Street Traders Association has been building since 2019 to drive forward the ambitious investment plans for Green Street and Queens Market over the coming years. As you now the vision for Green Street is to collaboratively work with our communities to transform the area so that it becomes a thriving place for local residents, businesses and visitors coming to Newham. We know that Green Street, as like most local high streets across the London, are grappling with changes to consumer habits and the impact that online shopping has had.
Moreover, it is imperative that we work together develop approaches and actions that can be implemented in the short term to support businesses during this very challenging time. You’ll have noted reports over the past couple of weeks about the significant contraction of the UK economy because of Covid-19 lockdown, and the economic impact on Newham will be great. Already, the financial impact on the Council has been in the region of £60 million, and despite the measures announced by the Chancellor on Wednesday this will simply not be enough to offset the impact in our borough as we continue to put in place measures to stop the increase in infections and save lives.
The Council will always need to balance the needs of businesses, with the needs of residents and the public health imperative to help build confidence and encourage people to shop in Green Street. In your email sent on the 22nd June, you stated the following:
‘As to the concerns of traders, we have been approached by several of our members about the loss of key on street car parking spaces to so called temporary pavement widening. We wish it to be put on record that there has been no consultation with Traders about these measures and it seems these works started during the lockdown period whilst most Traders businesses were closed. As an Association we have already proven there is a serious lack of parking spaces in the area and we strongly object to these works and want them stopped and reversed immediately. Our understanding is that the council used emergency powers to implement these measures on health and safety grounds but this directly contradicts and contravenes both the government's and TFLs advice and recommendations that the public try and avoid public transport and travel by car if possible to stop the spread of covid 19. It also needs to be pointed out that the people who will suffer the most from the removal of these on street car parking spaces will be the elderly and disabled who will no longer be able to access the shopping centre without difficulty. Another effect of these measures will be to force drivers to park on side roads thereby inconveniencing local [residents].
With respect, I disagree with your assertions as these are simply not true, and I am happy to elaborate further when we meet. I will ask officers to be in touch with you and other members of the Green Street Traders Association, alongside other business owners who have raised concerns, for a meeting next week, and will aim to organise a meeting for next week if it can be convened with our respective diaries.
In the meantime, please note attached, some initial responses to the range of questions that you raised in your email sent to ward councillors on the 22nd June.
I look forward to discussing all these and associated matters further next week.
Yours sincerely,
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Cc. Cllr James Asser, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainable Transport
Green Street West Ward Cllrs and Green Street East Ward Cllrs
Appendix A.
1. Small Business and Discretionary Grants
To date that Council has processed over 400 applications from Green Street businesses and paid over £7.3 million in grant funding. Recently we launched our discretionary grants proceed for those businesses that were unable to benefit from the small business grants scheme. A total of 29 applications have been received from Green Street business in the last week, and of these eight have been processed and 19 are pending.
Whilst some businesses fall outside the criteria for both the small business and discretionary grant scheme, the government has provided guidance on how the grant should be allocated for both schemes. We will continue to lobby the government to support both small and larger businesses in these unprecedented times.
2. Footways and Social Distancing Measures
As part of the guidance published by the government, which is statutory and can be read via the link below, local authorities with high levels of public transport use such as Newham were required to take measures to reallocate road space to people walking and cycling. This is to both to encourage active travel and to enable social distancing because of the significant reductions in public transport capacity on our buses and trains.
The government informed local authorities that the measures should be taken as swiftly as possible, and in any event within weeks, given the urgent need to change travel habits prior to the easing of lockdown restrictions that they had announced. In light of the legal requirements placed on the Council by the government as part of its Covid-19 response, and in line with provisions contain in the Coronavirus Act 2020 and the Contingencies Act 2004; coupled with the time constraints placed on the local authority, there was simply no scope for the Council to undertake a consultation on the temporary measures that were subsequently implemented. Social distancing in this context, primarily refers to the need for people to stay 2 metres apart where possible when outdoors. Most recently, the government has announced a ‘1-meter plus’ social distancing rule, only where specific Covid-19 safety measures are in place.
Consequently, as part of the Council’s Town Centre ‘re-opening’ strategy, the authority had to ensure that it was meeting its legal and public health requirements in light of the Covid-19 vulnerabilities and risks facing Newham residents - which as you know face amongst the highest age-standardised Covid-19 mortality rates in the country. That’s why the Council has put in place measures to enable residents’ and visitors to shop in Green Street safely. These social distancing / ‘More Space’ measures have been put in place across certain high street locations across the borough to both confirm with the public health imperative and help ease pressure on public transport by encouraging more people to walk and cycle. Over 50 percent of Newham households don’t own car, and for them additional capacity to be able to walk and cycle is especially important as public transport becomes constrained. In terms of measures introduced in Green Street, a number of bays have been suspended to allow these temporary social distancing measures to be activated. Note that these temporary bays will be filled with tarmac to create an even and accessible surface for pedestrians, including those that have a disability or visual impairment; as well as improving the public realm.
They will stay in place while the government continues to advise councils to maintain such social distancing measures in local high streets, and the Council has received specific funding from the government to implement these schemes; as well as measure to support the reopening of town centres and provide a safer environment for shoppers based on recommended guidelines.
We have provided an opportunity for residents and local businesses to feedback their views on the measures via this website link: https://www.newham.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19/c19-information-advice/5; which is being reviewed and updated following the feedback you provided, as well as feedback from other residents.
The Council has a responsibility to ensure that all shoppers can visit Green Street and feel there is enough space to allow them to safely distance from other shoppers. This is vitally important to support both public health and the local economy. Owing to the layout of the footways along Green Street, and the need to keep the street open for both public transport, servicing and general traffic, the only options we had were to extend pavements was to suspend a limited number of parking bays; but the availability of parking in the Green Street area still remains high, as you’ll note in the section below.
The Council will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these measures in light of supporting town centres and local businesses; as well as ensuring that it meets it public health duty to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 transmission and save lives.
3. Off and On-Street Parking:
As a result of the temporary suspensions on Green Street, the Council would like to put in alternative arrangements to offset the loss of the parking bays. An experimental traffic order proposes changes to the existing kerbside arrangements on the side streets at the junctions with Green Street. We are proposing to create shared use bays for loading and parking to enable deliveries to businesses between 7am and noon and then these same bays being used by shoppers for parking from noon. This will offset the loss of the parking space by providing 41 spaces. This will be operational from 28th July to the Council to implement the required works that are needed to put these additional measures in place. In addition to this, loading will be permitted on single yellow line where restrictions permit or in any bay for a period of up to 20 minutes and, shoppers with blue badge holders will be able to park in any resident bay for an unlimited time as well as on single and double yellow line for a period of up to 3 hours.
The combined number of parking spaces at Queens Market and Shaftesbury Road is 301. Green Street town centre has the most off street parking bays compared to other district centres in Newham. Whilst we understand that the preference from many of the members of the Green Street Traders Association is to increase the capacity of the Shaftesbury Road car park or on-street parking to the northern end of the street, Queens Market car park is currently operating at less than 50% occupancy. This means that there is approximately 72 bays available per hour throughout retail trading hours. We are looking at the options to extend the hours of Shaftesbury Road car park beyond 8pm, under the emergency powers granted to the Local Authority by the Government as we recognise this is something the Traders Association have requested in the past. This could help to attract more evening shoppers to Green Street supporting social distancing and staggering the number of people who visit so they can shop safely.
4. Investment in Green Street:
The Mayor has committed to investing in Green Street and we are about to embark on an exciting programme of investment for Queens Market as part of the Good Growth programme, where both the Council and the GLA will be investing £5.5 million to improve the market, provide additional economic uses to support Green Street to help to diversify the offer. Alongside this we have just submitted a bid to MCHLG to request an additional £2m to support projects in Green Street.
Later in the Summer, the Council will be working with residents and businesses to co-design the first ever town centre strategy for Green Street, which will culminate in a delivery plan and a set of pilot projects. Additionally, the four Shape Newham projects for Green Street will be commencing soon, as the implementation phase of that programme is due to be concluded over the next 12 months.