Urban Consolidation Centres were granted only a short life because they failed to attract a sufficient number of customers, making them economically unviable.
The literature review identified examples of compulsory (to use) consolidation centres in the United Kingdom and Europe and identified four primary drivers responsible for the effectiveness of CUCCs. These drivers are:
Examples are given for each primary driver and the literature review covering academic, expert, project, governmental and ‘grey’ literature suggests that the top-down compulsory imposition of an Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC) seems to work best in clearly controlled domains.
The legislative review considered whether under existing legal powers, a scheme could be introduced to ban delivery vehicles from collecting from and delivering to a city centre and compel them to deliver instead to a compulsory urban consolidation centre. The review provides an analysis of the implementation of such a scheme in a hypothetical location within England but outside London and considered the following scenarios:
The review has shown that there are potentially existing powers that could provide for the restriction of delivery vehicles entering a city centre and the construction of a CUCC. However, to use such powers in this way would be novel, unusual, and not clear cut.
Between June and July 2022, engagements with stakeholders were undertaken. These represented face-to-face appointments as well as an opportunity to complete and return a survey. Consultees included trade associations, global and local parcel delivery service providers, local authorities, and a global online retailer.
Whilst responses to the concept of consolidation centres were generally neutral or favourable, there was strong resistance to CUCCs from freight operators. Local authorities on the other hand were broadly in favour. The consultations also identified that there are specific sectors and areas where CUCCs could be applied relatively easily.
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