Only 4,000 people across London have endorsed the Mayor's plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street. The Conservatives are calling on the Mayor of London and Westminster Council to listen to the concerns of local people.
BBC Radio London's Susana Mendonca spoke with Conservative Group Leader Cllr Paul Swaddle earlier today. You can listen to this online or read their interview below.
I'm joined by Councillor Paul Swaddle from the Conservative Group. He's the Conservative Group leader on Westminster City Council, so the Opposition Group leader. Now, Councillor Swaddle, explain to me, why are you unhappy with this plan?
Well, I think fundamentally it's a bit of a con by the Mayor. I mean, so far, he's not said where all the buses, taxis and bikes go. He's not... worked out what the accessibility issues will be he's not said how it's going to be paid for it he's not asked the police how they'll police it and he's not produced a detailed plan but he has managed to get 4,000 people in London to say yes so well done to Sadiq. But in the end, what he says this is about is about trying to generate wealth.
You know, if you think about this road, it's struggled over recent years. You had COVID, you've had the advent of online shopping. A lot of the shops we've seen, Debenhams closed down, for example, House of Fraser. Something has to be done, certainly from the mayor's perspective, to say something has to be done in order to try to boost the area. And the idea of pedestrianising, it would mean that you'd be able to have events here. It would be more accessible, I suppose. people who, you know, want to shop without having to, you know, navigate the buses and the taxis and, you know, get across the road, it'd be safer. That's what he's saying. Do you not see that point?
Well, I think we already had a scheme that was being built. If it had not been stopped, it would have probably been about halfway through already, which saw a great improvement to Oxford Street, more greening, the shops and the businesses were happy with the scheme, local residents were happy with the scheme, and there was even general consensus amongst local politicians over the scheme. But he's come in and just stopped all that. And that was the scheme that your Labour opponents on the City Council had come up with, and they were not happy at the time that it was cancelled?
Well, the local Labour group say they're not happy, but they're not speaking out. They're not saying what they think should happen. They're not saying they'll stand up to the Mayor. They're just being rolled over and ignored. And that was seen last time when Adam Hug didn't even get invited to the kick -off for the whole process, and he's absent from the press release today.
Although I spoke to his team yesterday and they said that this was not their preferred outcome, but essentially what they've done is they're trying to come to an agreement with the mayor on the things that matter. So on the issue of safety on the street, that was one of the concerns that if you're pedestrianising it, is it going to be a safe place late at night and what have you? So that's one of the things that they've been talking about. Also the freight traffic around the area, you know, dealing with that. So he's, I suppose, taking a practical approach. Is that not what local politicians should be doing at this stage if the mayor is going to push ahead with this?
A complete rollover for local democracy. Residents will have no say over what happens on the street. The mayor will decide everything. This is a vanity project that he's pushing through. And whatever Adam Hug and his team say, they are rolling over. They are not fighting this. They are just trying to get the best thing out of it. But they should be starting from a point of... Residents do not want this scheme. They've voted it down previously. They've made it very clear. They've also agreed on a scheme that would work and would deliver great change for Oxford Street.
But the area is about more than just the local residents. It has that importance nationally, doesn't it?
Oh, yes. This is the nation's high street, as people refer to it. But it is also people's local high street. So I've got residents from St John's Wood and Pimlico who come here to shop, but they need to be able to access it by bus so that they can get off outside businesses. We need taxis to be able to pick up and drop off. We've got safety concerns right across the West End, and this is not going to make that better.
We've got local elections next year. I think that's obviously something that you'll be looking towards. Do you think that this is going to be a factor? Obviously, you'll be trying to win back Westminster City Council. You lost it for the first time ever to Labour back in 2022. Is this going to be a factor in those elections in terms of what you'll be campaigning on?
Well, look, we've already seen a West End by-election earlier this year that we won. having previously lost in the ward. And we've also seen Paul Fisher, a Labour councillor, leave Labour and join the Conservative Party because he knows that we're the only people standing up for local residents. And he knows that Sadiq Khan is just trying to roll people over here in Westminster.
Do you not see any positives from this proposal?
No. I mean, I was speaking to the Westminster Property Association yesterday. Vacancy rates are down to their lowest since pre-COVID, just over 1%. Good improvements on Oxford Street. This will just delay things further, and we will see stagnation while he makes up his mind as to what's being done. People don't know where to put their front door when they're refitting their shop because they don't know where the traffic's going to be, where the access is going to be. This will cause a period of uncertainty.
Well, Councillor Paul Swaddle from the Conservative Group on Westminster City Council. Thank you.
