City of Westminster (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Sadiq Khan unveils a major Oxford Street revamp, featuring pedestrianisation, cycle routes, and a ‘world-class’ public space in the City of Westminster.
The six-week public consultation period for the Mayor’s proposal, which involves the establishment of a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), began on Friday, February 28.
The Mayor discussed his intentions to revitalize the struggling main street and the outcomes he expects the consultation will yield with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
In order to implement his vision, Mayor Khan stunned local authorities in September when he declared his intention to take over, pedestrianized Oxford Street, and impose an MDC—a statutory organization established by English metro mayors to carry out regeneration projects.
As part of this round of the consultation process, Mayor Khan is putting up a version that will have its own planning authority and the ability to override Westminster City Council, which now controls the famous high street.
There will be at least six members, and Mayor Khan has already committed Westminster City Council Members to three of those positions.
The planning agency may begin operations as early as January 1, 2026, and it will cover a 1.3-mile stretch between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road station, according to consultation documents. According to City Hall, the body won’t be reviewed until January 2029.
Mayor Khan told the LDRS:
“This consultation is genuinely meaningful. We’re going to wait and see what people say in response to our plans [but] the three big things in these plans today are, one – the principle of pedestrianisation; two – the area we’ve set up [that] we’d like to have as the area; and third – that’s being in charge of that area.”
The ‘phased pedestrianisation’ of Oxford Street, which will start between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street, is what Mayor Khan has promised to implement. According to consultation documents, the eastern end of Oxford Street will “take longer to pedestrianise,” therefore this change will eliminate the majority of the traffic and improve the public realm there.
City Hall said the plans are an attempt to compete with the likes of Fifth Avenue in New York, the Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Ginza district in Tokyo. Mayor Khan said:
“I think the reality is [that] the way to regenerate, to revitalise and to reinvigorate the [Oxford Street] is to pedestrianise it but we’re going to do it in phases.
Why? Because I think a big bang won’t work.
We don’t want to inconvenience residents. We don’t want to cause problems for buses so what we will do is, once people have responded to the consultation, which ends on May 2, we’ll then work on plans, subject to the consultation, in relation to that phasing.”
In previous plans and previous conversations he had with businesses and others who know this area very well, the first phase will probably involve – again, probably – that area from Oxford Circus going towards the sort of Selfridges area, which is the phase we had in the last plan in 2017/18.
The LDRS is aware that Transport for London will oversee the roads inside the MDC, while the Greater London Authority (GLA) will assume responsibility for business rate collection.
Although there are currently no clear plans for Oxford Street, Mayor Khan stated that any modifications would make the street easier to access.
According to him, the GLA is thinking of putting bike lanes outside the pedestrian-only area. Additionally, drop-off locations for disabled people using black cabs will be examined. A ‘world class’ public space is also promised.
Although there are plans to build bike lanes around Oxford Street, the street’s general public realm enhancements will come before the area is pedestrianized.
He said:
“The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to come to, subject to consultation, a future pedestrianised street whether it’s those that are disabled, whether it’s those that want to come there by bike. We encourage active travel.
So, we will be, later on, working on plans for drop-off points for black taxis for those who are disabled, where we can have cycle bays for those who want to come by bike.
For those who want to carry on cycling, you won’t be able to cycle through the pedestrianised bit but you’ll have routes to cycle around.”
In its 2025–2026 budget, the GLA has already allocated money to sustain the MDC for three months. The budget procedure for the following year will confirm additional GLA money.
The Mayor is confident that the project can be financed by ‘philanthropic sources’ in addition to donations from the public and commercial sectors. Revenue is also anticipated to come from developer fees, planning application costs, and Community Infrastructure Levy collections.
Mayor Khan pledged to identify the private sector organizations supporting his plan later on, but he declined to name them. Additionally, he stated that he has no plans to raise local citizens’ taxes in order to finance the project.
He said:
“It’s really important for them to see the benefits of this project. Look, this is a street that has got a fantastic history but not such a great present.
We want to restore this street to its former glory and the good thing is we’ve got support from government, we’ve got support from businesses, we’ve got support from many people who want to see this street improve and we know from previous projects we’ve been involved in but also previous projects run around the world, that not only are these scheme self-financing, but they can lead to huge profits and huge growth as well.”
According to GLA’s own projections, pedestrianizing Oxford Street could sustain an additional 781 employment and raise Gross Value Added, a crucial measure of a region’s economic performance, by around £82 million annually as compared to a non-pedestrianized Oxford Street.
This number seems to originate from a research on the pedestrianization of Spanish urban areas.
According to City Hall’s study, depending on the circumstances and underlying assumptions, pedestrianization might also result in an additional £10–20 million in business rates and an additional £30–40 million in VAT receipts.
With an estimated 120 million visits annually, Oxford Street boosted London’s economy by an estimated £25 billion in 2022. In that year, that amounted to 1% of the UK’s overall economic output.
In addition, Mayor Khan has denied assertions made by a West End councilman that he will proceed with his pedestrianization plans irrespective of the input he gets from this year’s consultation.
Additionally, he has ruled out paying back the £22 million that Westminster City Council spent on its own reform scheme, which was canceled towards the end of last year.
What measures will be taken to manage traffic displacement?
Putting in place cutting-edge traffic monitoring technologies that give drivers real-time updates can aid in improving traffic flow management. This involves alerting vehicles to alternate routes and traffic conditions via digital signage.
Based on current traffic circumstances, ATSC systems dynamically modify the timing of traffic signals. By decreasing stops and improving traffic flow at crossings, this can aid in the reduction of congestion.
Lane usage can be modified in response to traffic demand using strategies such as Dynamic Lane Reversal (DLR). In order to boost capacity during peak hours, this entails reorienting the flow of traffic in specific lanes.
Promoting walking, bicycling, and public transportation can help to mitigate traffic displacement by lowering the number of cars on the road. Improved bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, and public transportation options can all help achieve this.