London Mayor Sadiq Khan has begun a consultation on a contentious plan to pedestrianise Oxford Street in a move to regenerate the English city’s busiest shopping destination.
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Despite previous failed attempts and probable local opposition, Khan aims to gather Londoners’ views on his plan to create a new Mayoral Development Corporation with the power to remove traffic from one of the world’s most famous streets.
“Oxford Street has been known as the nation’s high street but the area has suffered in recent years,” Khan said, referring to a decline in footfall accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said his plan would help to “unlock the true potential of Oxford Street” and support good businesses, while creating new jobs and boosting growth.
Khan, who is serving his third term as mayor of London, had proposed a traffic-free Oxford Street in his manifesto ahead of the 2016 mayoral election. But Westminster City Council withdrew from the plan in 2018, citing a lack of public support. He reprised the proposal in September.
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