The leader of Westminster Council has written to Sadiq Khan and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner with a list of “ten key areas of concern” about the Mayor’s plan to pedestrianise Oxford Street, including a strong demand that mayoral powers are applied only to the street itself if the council is co-operate with the scheme.
In the first public response from one of the council’s senior politicians, Adam Hug, who heads the prestigious central London borough’s first ever Labour administration and has opposed pedestrianisation, warned of “substantial practical challenges” with delivering the scheme that will “need to be thoroughly addressed to ensure any future transformation of the street works properly and does so in the interests of everyone who has a long-term stake in the West End, including local residents”.
Hug also states that, at this stage, the council is “far from convinced” that Khan needs to create a government-approved Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) to deliver his transportation aims for Oxford Street and insists that “any eventual redline” defining the boundaries of its jurisdiction – within which, crucially, the Mayor instead of the council would act as the planning authority – “must include only the areas of highway and public realm necessary to deliver any transportation and public realm schemes (not including the buildings themselves).”
He adds: “The expansion of planning powers (either geographically or in the scope of responsibilities) beyond those necessary to deliver any street transformation scheme would be a clear barrier to pragmatic engagement between us and would be firmly resisted by the Council. ”
City Hall has yet to say how large an area it wants the MDC to cover, though its announcement about Khan’s intervention suggested that parts of the neighbouring borough of Camden would be affected by it too.
There has been speculation that the MDC boundary will encompass other parts of the West End in addition to Oxford Street itself including, within Westminster, extending beyond the western end of Oxford Street to take in Marble Arch, perhaps facilitating long-standing plans for rejuvenating the space around the historic monument, which stands at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane.
Westminster Labour owed its historic capture of the council in May 2022 in part to promising to take the side of residents who were unhappy about the scale and pace of development activity under the Tories, along with late night noise and antisocial behaviour. There has long been strong, well-organised local opposition to the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street. The influential Marylebone Association has already claimed, in the wake of Khan’s announcement, that the street is “set to become less accessible, damaging economic growth”.
Initial “enabling work” has just got underway on a programme of improvements to Oxford Street (pictured) and its adjacent areas devised by Westminster after consultation with West End businesses, people living in streets close by and others. The scheme would have retained bus, taxi and bicycle access to Oxford Street, and was in line with Labour’s 2022 borough elections pledge to axe the limited pedestrianisation proposed by its Conservative predecessors.
An initial response to Mayor Khan’s intervention from Westminster’s chief executive officer defended the council’s approach and hinted clearly at councillors’ displeasure. One Westminster cabinet member told On London earlier this week that he and colleagues were “too angry” to speak to the media at that point.
Stressing that the council will “ensure the voices of our residents are heard by the Mayor and Government” and busting the “common myth that only the well-heeled live in the West End”, Hug asks Khan and Rayner how a fully-pedestrianised scheme” can be “delivered in a way that does not lead to significantly increased traffic congestion” and worse air quality locally, how residents would be represented on the MDC body, how access to a pedestrianised Oxford Street would be possible for older and disabled people – many of whom currently depend on buses and taxis – and how adverse local impacts would be minimised during the works period.
Hug also asks what can be be done to “make cycling work better in and around Oxford Street. On Tuesday, Khan confirmed that cycling will not be permitted on a pedestrianised Oxford Street, despite London Cycling Campaign chief executive Tom Fyans earlier saying “the whole area will become much better for walking and cycling”.
Khan’s original plans, published in 2017, had also ruled out people riding bicycles on the street. Wheelchair-user and activist Mik Scarlett has welcomed Khan’s stance on this, saying “sharing space between pedestrians and cyclists is a safety issue”, though cycling website Road CC has reported City Hall saying there is “potential” for the street to be accessed by cyclists at night in the future.
Pointing out that the council has invested £90 million in its Oxford Street programme so far, Hug requests that these costs be recouped and says the New West End Company, a business improvement district, should also be recompensed for the £1.5 million it has contributed.
Read Westminster Council’s full list of concerns here. OnLondon.co.uk provides unique coverage of the capital’s politics, development and culture. Support it for just £5 a month or £50 a year and get things for your money too. Details HERE. Follow Dave Hill on Bluesky.