Sadiq Khan to Ban Cars on Oxford Street Despite Opposition of Westminster City Council
Sadiq Khan is to ban cars on London’s Oxford Street in a bid to “rejuvenate” the area despite opposition from Westminster City Council, which accused the Mayor of overreach. The Times has more.
Sir Sadiq Khan will proceed with a controversial plan to pedestrianise a significant chunk of Oxford Street in a bid to “rejuvenate” the area.
The plans will involve the banning of traffic from Great Portland Street, just to the east of the new Ikea store near Oxford Circus underground station, to Orchard Street, to the west of Selfridges.
The Mayor’s office says the plans will open up the street for “exciting events and activities” and a create a “well-designed, high-quality space” that attracts shoppers from across the world.
The Labour Mayor will drive through the plans using a vehicle known as a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), the same tactic used by his predecessors to regenerate Stratford and the Olympic Park.
The body reports to the Mayor and its planning decisions have primacy over objections from local authorities.
Khan had put the plans out to consultation, and the Mayor’s office said last night that almost two thirds of respondents supported the plans, rising to “more like three quarters (72%) among those who had specifically visited the area within 12 months”.
Plans for the transformation of Oxford Street are not new — Ken Livingstone proposed a tram, while Johnson rerouted some of the numerous bus routes on the street. However, numerous previous schemes have been stymied by a combination of local politics and concerns that the bus services that use the street would be pushed on to smaller roads unfit for such heavy traffic.
Westminster City Council, in whose area Oxford Street lies, has been particularly vociferous in its opposition, and told the consultation that Khan was guilty of overreach by setting up an MDC.
“Oxford Street is entirely in Westminster and we remain clear in our view that Westminster is the appropriate authority to handle the transformation of Oxford Street,” the council’s response read.
Worth reading in full.
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I would suggest that you have more pressing concerns than pedestrianization in London. You really are living in a different reality if you think that this is ever going to be an issue. How does one develop a sense of importance and priority? There are events that subsume all subsequent events. This is the basis of the Nuremberg finding that invasion and occupation represent original sin in the sense that every crime commited afterwards within that region is contained within these intitial crimes.You should ask yourself because the lack of such a sense tends to result in a smack on the nose. I don’t know what you need. Maybe a whack on the shoulder from a Zen master although he probably wouldn’t even bother with the likes of you.
No doubt niquab wearing will become obligatory and shoplifters dealt with according g to sharia law (actually there could be some merit to the latter).
Meh. ‘Pedestrianise’ the lot and then concrete it over.
You want to create a desert and call it peace, as Tacitus said. The universe or simulation if you prefer has worked this way for four hundred years. This is the real graveyard of the empire model. What the Chinese call the changing of the mandate of heaven. We don’t have long left in the simulation but this British empire model is going to be pounded into stone. Remember that John Dee and Edward Kelley brought certain beings into the world in order to activate the British Empire. The demonic is always ultimately overcome by the human.
I am trying to teach you this situation rapidly because you would be crazy to go along with the Yanks. Forget what Churchill said, the Yanks have gone utterly insane. You can always say that that the Brits don’t have a choice. Trust me we do. If I was dealing with a monster like that then I would knock him down a thousand ways before even speaking with him. He is that type that feeds of adulation. Deprive him of oxygen as quickly as you can because he is about to pull the whole world into a very nasty situation. Are you going to let yourself be drawn into Armageddon by some halfwit?
Yeah well I expect visitors to the area would be all for it- but how many of the people who live and work in the surrounding streets that would be hit by the displaced traffic did he ask, and what weight were their views given?
As an ex Londoner I still love the place in small doses but Oxford Street has always been bottom of my list. If you want chain store shopping just go to one of the Westfields or Battersea Power Station (majestic).
You are sick puppies ready for a dose of nasty crap;. You have screwed up your own life., You have turned the whole world against you. Don’t talk to me you look like an excrement stain.
You dirty sods have nothing on your side. Just look at yourself you are a contemptible wretch at best causing harm all around you. . Please just do the world a favour and get lost. Nobody wants you anymore.
Ban Sadiq Khan from London!
Pakistan threatens to nuke isreal if isreal nukes Iran! How many Pakistanis live in he UK? Who’s side will they be on???
Pick a side Britain,… it’s coming to a doorstep near you!
You just make yourselves sound like retards.
Go to bed, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Jabby standing on the street corner yelling “The end is nigh!”
I was thinking there must be a sandwich board involved here somewhere… never very precise on the upcoming events… the world is a bit shit, we get it…
Since nothing would persuade me to go to Oxford Street, I don’t care what they do to it.
I used to live in London until 1999 – I never would consider driving up Oxford Street. If I wanted to torment myself I would push needles under my nails in preference.
For a start the heading is nonsense as normal traffic was already banned on the length of Oxford Street during my time at WCC a decade back. What it should say is that ALL TRAFFIC is to be banned on Oxford Street which should be fun for any business that needs servicing or deliveries. The problem of Oxford Street was there during my time at WCC since there is no obvious route to divert all the traffic to and it also involves a second Highway Authority in Camden. Oxford Street is not Red Route and therefore not already under TfL control simply because it was already a restricted road. I can see a High Court challenge coming from WCC on the grounds that Sir Knife Crime lacks the authority or that this is not an appropriate use of the MDC power.