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Kingston’s business stars take centre stage The Kingston Borough Business Awards, which are delivered by Kingston Chamber of Commerce, with the Headline sponsor Kingston University, aim to turn the spotlight on the vital role local businesses play in the economic and community life of the borough. They recognise the outstanding achievements, innovation and impact of local businesses, educational institutions and social enterprises. More than 200 guests attended the awards gala in the historic All Saints Church in Kingston to celebrate the finalists and winners across 15 categories. The range of awards highlighted the role the business community plays in fostering inclusion, engaging communities, driving sustainability and positive customer experiences and improving wellbeing across the borough. Among the winners was local youth work charity Oxygen which was recognised for its vital work and positive engagement with young people across the borough, in the Removing Barriers award sponsored by the council. The Removing Barriers Champions award was presented to Oxygen on the night by Councillor Alison Holt, Deputy Leader of Kingston Council and Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Leisure. Councillor Holt said: “Removing barriers is something all businesses in our borough should aspire to do. “Kingston Council works closely with partners including many in the business community to create a fairer borough, where opportunities to succeed are accessible to all. “We are passionate about supporting Kingston Borough Business Awards, they are an important part of celebrating local businesses and supporting them to showcase best practice.
Business champions have been celebrated at the Kingston Borough Business Awards 2024.
The full list of winners: • Best Charity/Social Enterprise Award Creative Youth Charity • Best Freelancer/Sole Trader Award Annie Armitage • Best Health and Wellbeing Provider Award Your Healthcare CIC 'Removing Barriers Champions Award' winners - Oxygen
“I’d like to congratulate all of the winners and nominees and thank them for their remarkable contributions to life in our borough. "I would also like to thank Kingston Chamber of Commerce for organising the event." Oxygen is a local charity that works with hundreds of young people across Kingston Upon Thames. It has been recognised for the vital work towards fairer and safer Kingston by supporting young people to be happy, safe and successful by removing barriers, creating opportunities and providing and enabling care and support where and when it is needed. John Trend, Chief Executive of Oxygen, said: "Oxygen is honoured and delighted to have been recognised for our work by winning the Removing Barriers Champions Award. “In the last two years, Oxygen has received over 280 referrals of young people needing support, many of whom are struggling to overcome the challenges they face.” The annual awards took place on Thursday, February 22.
Find out more about the awards at www.kbba.co.uk
• Best Independent Local Retailer Award Sage’s Health Store • Best in Digital Communications Award Business Clan • Best in Property of the Year Award Harrison Jacks • Best in Sport and Fitness Award - Be Happy Yoga • Excellence in Professional Services Award Ditton HR • Best Start-Up of the Year Award - Social Blox • Developing Young People’s Skills Award Achieving for Children – Pathways and Progress team (EBP) • Excellence in Customer Experience Award The White House Nursing Home • Excellence in Hospitality Award - The Wych Elm • Outstanding Business Social Impact Award Chessington World of Adventures Resort • Outstanding Green Business Champion Award AuLaw Organic Farm UK CIC • Removing Barriers Champions Award - Oxygen
Kingston pilots new regional flooding exercise to help manage the impacts of climate change A new, first of its kind, flooding exercise is being staged in the Royal Borough of Kingston, before being rolled out across the rest of London. Despite ongoing efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change, climate hazards are increasing, which means local services need to be prepared to respond effectively to flooding incidents. The council recently (4 April) hosted a south west London sub regional exercise to prepare for potential, large-scale flooding incidents across Kingston and other south west London boroughs. The exercise, run by the Environment Agency included representatives from other local authorities in south west London as well as key partners such as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), London Fire Brigade (LFB), London Ambulance Service (LAS), Met Office, London Resilience Group (LRG), utility providers and Kingston Hospital.
22 Borough BUSINESS
Hayley Bennett, Chair of London Flood Working Group said: “The exercise at Kingston’s Guildhall will put the South West of London in the best position ahead of the summer to ensure all partners are fully prepared for any significant thunderstorm and rainfall events if they were to occur. “We know these events are getting more frequent and more extreme, driven by climate change. Exercises like this put response partners in the best possible place to prepare for and respond to significant floods that can pose a risk to communities across London.” This is part of a wider piece of work by Kingston Council’s Resilience Planning Team who recently commissioned the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) to complete an Open Water Safety Assessment of the riverside in Kingston. This expert assessment of the riverside follows the recent improvement of river rescue equipment and will feed into the redevelopment of Eagle Brewery
Wharf on the riverside in Kingston town centre. The RoSPA recommendations will be reviewed by Kingston’s River Safety Forum. Last year, Kingston Council installed lifelines under Kingston’s Bridges to help anyone who gets in trouble in the water. The lifelines have been placed around the base of the arches of the bridges providing anyone who accidentally ends up in the water with something to grab hold of. The council and Kingston’s River Safety Forum partners also installed 12 new throwline boards along the Thames, replacing some of the older life rings. The team have been instrumental in setting up a River Safety Forum which covers a wider geographic area across south west London and into Surrey to share best practices and learning from river incidents. With these ongoing efforts, the council and its partners are continuing to make Kingston a safer and more resilient borough for all.