Survey of Businesses on Freight Deliveries & Collections in Chester City Centre

As part of developing a freight strategy for Chester City Centre, MDS Transmodal (MDST) carried out a survey of businesses with the support of the Chester Business Improvement District (BID) as well as Cheshire West and Chester Council. This provided information on the delivery of freight and the collection of both freight and waste for businesses within and outside the city centre pedestrianised area. Results indicate that freight deliveries and collections present no major issues to businesses, perhaps because the businesses and their logistics providers have adapted to the existence of bans on deliveries in the middle of the day as the pedestrianised area has been in place since the 1970s. That being said, some concerns exist regarding short-term congestion early in the morning and receiving parking tickets for delivery vehicles due to a lack of suitable locations to park.

An online survey of businesses in Chester City Centre was undertaken at the end of 2022, which was designed by MDST and carried out with the assistance of Chester BID. The survey was part of a research programme being carried out to develop a freight strategy for Chester City Centre that is most appropriate for its economy but also takes into account its heritage character.

The focus of the final strategy will be to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of the freight sector and ultimately support businesses. This requires forming an understanding of key issues related to deliveries and collections while also seeking views on potential measures to address them.

The historic centre of Chester is pedestrianised everyday between 10.30am and 8.00pm, therefore delivery vehicles are unable to enter the area during that time window to limit the impact of freight movements and respect the heritage nature of the city.

Many of the businesses surveyed (58%) were located within the pedestrianised zone while 42% were city centre businesses but located in the surrounding area outside the pedestrianised zone.

Highlights from the results on freight deliveries and collections:

• Most freight deliveries were in the form of parcels and boxes, implying they are relatively lightweight and can be handled by a single person;
• Deliveries are generally made before the city centre is closed to vehicles with a peak from 09:00-10:30 (61% of businesses), but a reasonably high proportion remains that receives deliveries after this time;
• The majority of deliveries are by operators using a light goods vehicle (‘white van’), while some are by specialist logistics companies using a mix of light and rigid heavy goods vehicles;
• Deliveries are likely to come mainly from Regional or National Distribution Centres, but also on occasions even from abroad;
• Most businesses did not report significant issues with deliveries. The minority that did referenced late deliveries, unreliability of deliveries, and the inconvenience of delivery times as being significant issues.

On the collection of freight, only about a quarter of respondents had collections of non-food retail goods, leaving the majority with no collections. Of those that had collections, results showed:

• Most collections are carried out by parcel companies, specialist logistics companies, or Royal Mail
• Collections are dispatched to outside the North West region and to the North West region beyond the immediate Chester area;
• Most businesses did not report significant issues with collections. Those that did referenced late collections, the infrequency of collection services, and the inconvenience of collection times as significant issues.

Follow-up interviews were undertaken with some businesses, located both inside and outside the pedestrianised zone. These businesses reported no major delivery issues. However, the prevalence of parking tickets for vans loading or unloading goods was noted. Short-term congestion was mentioned as a minor challenge in narrow one-way streets when vans are loading or unloading goods. Additionally, streets around the barriers of the pedestrianised zone are prone to short-term congestion when drivers are unaware they cannot enter. However, this quickly gets resolved and does not present a significant issue to businesses in the city centre. One of the businesses interviewed operates in food retail and noted difficulty in coordinating timing with collections by food takeaway drivers, who risk getting a parking ticket.