Council locks horns with Sadiq Khan over plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street

By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

Westminster council’s Labour leader has spoken publicly for the first time on Sadiq Khan’s plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street, saying he wants questions answered before any further developments or decisions are made.

Cllr Adam Hug, Westminster council leader, wrote to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and the London Mayor in an open letter yesterday, outlining 10 ‘key concerns’ on Mr Khan’s plans for the street.

Mr Khan, who has repeatedly referenced his vision of pedestrianising Oxford Street during his tenure, said he was rebooting plans to turn the shopping destination into a ‘traffic-free avenue’ and a ‘beautiful public space’.

Westminster council’s Labour administration has been working on its own £90million scheme to improve Oxford Street’s public realm. 

But, the Mayor is hoping Ms Rayner, as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, will establish a new Mayoral Development Corporation for the area, granting Mr Khan the ability to override the council.

Following the announcement, a council statement was attributed to Chief Executive Stuart Love rather than Cllr Hug. This was due to yesterday’s two by-elections, one of which was for a West End ward seat in which Oxford Street is located. 

The seat was won by Conservative candidate Tim Barnes.

Local authority guidelines around what councillors can talk about in the lead-up to an election meant the topic should have been avoided at last night’s meeting.

But, opposition leader cllr Paul Swaddle used one of his three questions to Cllr Hug to raise the announcement from the Mayor, which he claimed would ‘remove vital access for the disabled and elderly, riding roughshod over Cllr Hug’s commitment not to do so’.

Cllr Hug told the chamber: “This is a situation we found out about on Thursday afternoon. 

“We have made very clear since then our concerns about that process, and our position of principle support of the work that we have been doing up to now to deliver at pace our Oxford Street programme, which in two years had got almost ready to be on the streets after many years of delay.”

Cllr Swaddle suggested Mr Khan’s move indicated Westminster Labour ‘have no influence on national policy or London Labour policy’, and asked whether Cllr Hug would join him in launching a judicial review against any potential decision if required.

Describing Cllr Swaddle’s request as ‘premature’ given no decision has been made, Cllr Hug said: “We are going to work closely and efficiently to try and put forward our position to those other partners, we will look at what those responses are and respond in the appropriate way to safeguard our residents, businesses and users of Oxford Street.”

Among the concerns raised in Westminster Labour’s letter are how any proposed pedestrianisation scheme could be implemented without increasing congestion, and how it will protect access for older people, people with disabilities and families with young children.

Asked by MyLondon on Tuesday whether the move was healthy for local democracy, Mr Khan said: “We’ll work with the council; it’s not an issue of bypassing the council. 

“But you’ve got a street here that contributes £22billion towards the local economy, the national economy, the city’s economy, 500,000 visitors a day. So we’ve got to make sure we work with the council, with the Government, with businesses to get the best possible deal we can for this street.

“I don’t believe anybody can sensibly be happy with the status quo.”

Pictured top: Oxford Street concept art (Picture: GLA)