Westminster City Council has written to the transport authority demanding it stops necessary works to enable the planned pedestrianisation
Westminster City Council is urging Transport for London (TfL) to halt orders introducing “permanent changes” to Oxford Street due to fury over a “sham” consultation.
The transport authority published traffic orders affecting more than 20 streets as it prepares to begin pedestrianising the shopping destination later this year.
Cllr Paul Swaddle, Leader of Westminster City Council, has however attacked the way the orders are being progressed, in-part due to them being advertised the day after the May elections as all eyes were on the results.
Westminster does not have the power to approve or reject the traffic orders, though has said that, alongside businesses and residents, it is supposed to be properly consulted.
Cllr Swaddle said: “This is a stitch-up, plain and simple. The Mayor and TfL tried to force through permanent changes to the most famous shopping street in the world, the day after an election, in a consultation so quiet that the people whose livelihoods depend on Oxford Street never even knew it was happening. That is not how you treat the nation’s high street, and it is not how you treat Londoners.”
A spokesperson for TfL said they followed the standard process for making traffic orders “which includes publishing a notice and sending emails to statutory consultees such as Westminster City Council”.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has claimed his plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street will help boost the local economy and breathe life into the area.
The £150 million scheme, which is being overseen by a Mayoral Development Corporation established by Mr Khan, has however come in for criticism over fears about the impacts on crime, accessibility and traffic.
Ahead of the May elections the local Tory group, which at that point was in opposition, said it would set up a legal fund to fight the proposed pedestrianisation. Once in administration, Cllr Swaddle was accused of U-turning after announcing a judicial review was “simply impossible at this late stage”.
Cllr Swaddle posted on X that the decision followed advice from legal counsel.
Cllr Geoff Barraclough, Labour spokesperson for economic development and previously a Cabinet Member before the local authority changed hands, said the Conservatives had “misled voters with their spurious promise of a legal challenge”.
The Conservative administration has now reacted furiously to the introduction of the traffic orders, which they say will permanently impact Oxford Street and were not adequately advertised.
They have accused the Mayor and TfL of pushing the changes through following a “sham” consultation published the day after the recent elections with a short objection window. They are demanding TfL halts the traffic orders and reruns the consultation “in the open”.
Cllr Swaddle said: “[Mr Khan] should halt these orders today and rerun this consultation properly. If he refuses, he is telling every business and resident in the West End that their voice simply does not count.”
Cllr Tim Barnes, Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning, added: “I have asked the basic questions any resident or business would ask: where the traffic goes, how the busiest shopping street in the country gets serviced, what happens to disabled access. The answers simply are not there. An unelected body is imposing permanent change on our streets and cannot explain how it will work.
“We will fight this every step of the way. TfL should scrap this discredited process and start again, properly and in the open. Anything less is an insult to the businesses and residents who actually make Oxford Street work.”
The LDRS understands the council is expecting more notifications to come before it as the pedestrianisation scheme progresses, providing it with future opportunities to respond.
A spokesperson for TfL said: “Following two extensive public consultations in 2025 and 2026, which asked the public about the principle of pedestrianisation as well as setting out the scope of the scheme and how traffic, including buses, would be diverted to allow this, we have begun the statutory traffic order process to implement this scheme.
“We followed the standard process for making the traffic orders which includes publishing a notice and sending emails to statutory consultees such as Westminster City Council.”
They added that work to implement the pedestrianisation continues to progress and that further works are anticipated to begin in the coming months.
A City Hall spokesperson told The Standard: “Following strong support from Londoners and businesses, the Mayor is moving ahead with the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street and hopes to see the first section going traffic-free by the end of this summer.
“The Mayor will continue working closely with all stakeholders on these plans to create a vibrant, world-class, accessible destination, restoring the nation’s high street to its former glory as we build a better London for everyone.”
The council has separately agreed to allow TfL to complete a series of “enabling works” to areas surrounding the Oxford Street West (OSW) proposals. The decision was made by the council’s Executive Director of Environment and Communities, Frances O’Rourke, under delegated authority rather than an elected member.
The works, which include changes to bus stands and other infrastructure, will ensure the traffic network can continue to operate effectively once the pedestrianisation has been rolled out, as well as mitigations for groups needing to access the street.
There is to be no cost to the council, though a paper outlining the decision notes that if the works are not completed, surrounding streets “are at risk of operating in non-compliant or ineffective configurations, leading to access and circulation issues, including core operations such as freight and servicing”.
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