Sadiq Khan will not be seeking to include Soho in the area covered by his proposed Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) for taking forward the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, the London Assembly’s budget and performance committee heard yesterday.
Local businesses have been lobbying the Mayor to include the area within the MDC boundary, but changes to Soho’s streets would remain a “a matter for Westminster City Council”, Khan’s deputy chief of staff Richard Watts (pictured) told the committee. “For Soho, the Mayor coming in and taking it from the local authority is not a solution we would look to,” he said.
Watts also confirmed that City Hall would not be pursuing a rumoured bid to take over council powers to grant or refuse licences for selling alcohol, entertainment venues and late-night food outlets in the MDC area. Nor would the Mayor be seeking any government funding for the proposal, he added.
Consultation on formally transferring Oxford Street from Westminster council into mayoral control, as well as on the establishment of the MDC itself, would be getting underway “in the early part” of next year, Assembly members (AMs) heard.
Under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 the Mayor may take over any road in the city from its council, with government approval required only if the council disagrees. For an MDC, the Mayor has to consult more widely, including with affected boroughs and local MPs, but an MDC proposal can only be blocked by a highly unlikely two-thirds Assembly majority.
Khan was keen to get going on a scheme which was vital for Oxford Street’s future as a “world-leading visitor and retail destination,” Watts said. “We’ve got an opportunity to do something genuinely historic and that is an opportunity we have to seize.”
Creating the MDC was necessary to avoid “another screeching U-turn” from Westminster Council, he added, referring to the local authority reversing its support for Khan’s 2018 pedestrianisation scheme on the eve of that year’s local elections.
Despite the new Labour-controlled council – and local residents and amenity groups – continuing with their opposition to pedestrianisation, Watts insisted that an active and “constructive” dialogue was underway between the borough and the Mayor. “Where there are challenges we are trying to work through them. We are clear that the scheme needs to work for Westminster,” Watts said.
But “every Londoner” should also be seen as a local resident to Oxford Street, he argued. “It’s a London-wide asset, a national asset. That’s the reason why we think the Mayor needs to drive this in the interests of the whole city.”
Recent independent YouGov polling showed 63 per cent of Londoners in favour of pedestrianisation, rising to 72 per cent for the 54 per cent who had visited Oxford Street in the past year, and just 23 per cent opposed, he added.
The committee, which was taking a first look at the Mayor’s draft budget for 2025/26 ahead of lengthy consultation due to get underway next month, also probed Khan’s commitments to continue funding free school meals for primary children throughout his mayoral term and his future plans for Transport for London fares, currently frozen until March next year.
The free school meals commitment, costing £140 million this year, would continue into 2025/26 at around the same cost, the meeting heard, while the price tag for a further fares freeze would be set out in future drafts. “The working assumption is that we continue with the funding in future years,” said mayoral chief of staff David Bellamy.
In the current year, free school meals were funded from business rates income, while the £123 million costs of topping up TfL’s fares income came from a combination of business rates and City Hall reserves. A post-budget letter to Khan from transport secretary Louise Haigh suggested that the amount of future investment funding TfL receives could be influenced by his readiness to increase fares.
Proposed funding arrangements for next year would be available only later in the budget-setting process, after government funding announcements, AMs heard.
The next version of the draft budget will be published for consultation next month, with further drafts scrutinised by the full London Assembly in the New Year.
Watch the budget and performance committee meeting in full here.
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