Throughout the Business Alliance consultation, businesses were keen to establish a working partnership with the City Corporation to explore and implement further way finding and signage systems. The majority of businesses reported issues in way finding and local area orientation issues not just for staff but also for their business visitors. The retail and leisure businesses wanted better signage to also assist and help promote visitors and attract more tourists into the area. The Perception Analysis also identified that businesses would like to see more environmental projects implemented and promotion of more green space within the footprint. With Air quality an important factor for London, there is an opportunity to work collectively in monitoring air quality and working in partnership with the City Corporation to identify suitable interventions to offset emissions and to promote Cheapside as a “clean air” business district.

The Cheapside Business Alliance will:

• Align with the existing strategy for on street signage in the City of London, and identify any gaps in provision as well as investigating additional fit for purpose options that would add value to the areas existing provision

• Develop a portfolio of useful information that can be disseminated to businesses, their staff and visitors that facilitates local orientation

• Work in conjunction with The City of London and all local stakeholders to implement measures to increase public awareness of poor air quality and together reduce levels of local pollution through a range of local and targeted initiatives. These could take the form of promoting ‘greener’ walking routes across London and more eco-friendly transport options such as cycling and running/walking to and from work

• Build upon the baseline Green Infrastructure (GI) Audit – which mapped all local GI and identified a range of opportunities to enhance the area and in partnership with the City of London further enhance green spaces and identify opportunities for further greening across the Business Alliance footprint. The aim will be to create more open space, promote better air quality and bio-diversity, through more landscaping and an enhanced environment.

• The Business Alliance will continue to work in partnership with the City Corporation Department of the Built Environment team, Developers and businesses In order to align closely with the Bank Area Strategy and to work with developers on new schemes such as Bloomberg’s new Head Office scheme and the new Soho House scheme proposed at the former Midland Bank site on Poultry. The Business Alliance will be seen as a formal consultative body on behalf of business for all future planning applications and public realm enhancements.

• The Business Alliance will seek to ensure a seamless approach to area regeneration and enhancement of the local street scape so that developments and improvements either planned or underway in Cheapside are integrated; physically, socially and economically

• Work in conjunction with the City of London Street Cleansing team to report any on street recurring issues such as litter, urination and chewing gum accumulation and ensure that they are dealt with swiftly so as to maintain the areas high standard of public realm provision

The Cheapside Walking Map

The Cheapside Walking map was researched, designed and finalised between February – March 2017. The map includes the following:

 o 3 walking routes that were created with start and end points suitable for all users of the Cheapside BID area.

o The walking routes include points of interest specified by Cheapside BID and a selection of heritage and green sites across the area. The routes were designed in collaboration with the City of London’s Air Quality team to include ‘London Air Quality Annual Pollution Maps’ – showing Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; PM10 & PM2.5 Particulates. The cleaner air routes identify walking routes that avoid areas of heavy pollution.

o After the research and design process the map document was signed off by Cheapside BID and stakeholders. One side is an annotated bespoke map of the Cheapside area highlighting the 3 routes and points of interest; on the reverse is a range of walking facts to promote walking, introductions to the map and brief descriptions of the walks for users to follow.