Westminster City Council has confirmed it cannot stop the Mayor of London's pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, after the Labour Government formally transferred powers over the scheme to the Oxford Street Development Corporation earlier this month, BBC London reported. The council previously succeeded in blocking earlier attempts by the Mayor to pedestrianise the street, but Cllr Tim Barnes, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council, said the aim now is not to stop the plan but to slow it down so it works properly for people in the area, after the council wrote to Government demanding an environmental impact assessment covering traffic, noise and air quality in surrounding roads once vehicles are displaced from Oxford Street. Cllr Barnes warned that pushing traffic from Oxford Street into side roads risked buses and trucks "chugging out fumes" and operating closer to pedestrians and cyclists.
Cllr Barnes said
"If you're going to take all of the traffic that was on Oxford Street and push it into side roads, it makes sense that those trucks and buses are gonna find themselves chugging out fumes, or getting way too close to pedestrians and cyclists."
Enabling works are under way this summer, with the road expected to close to traffic as soon as October.
You can watch the BBC's interview in full via their website.
