Westminster City Council has written to the Government demanding a full environmental impact assessment ahead of the Mayor of London's plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street, BBC News reports. The Conservatives, who won back control of Westminster City Council in May's local elections after four years in opposition following Labour's win there in 2022, previously blocked an earlier attempt by the Mayor to pedestrianise the street back in 2018, the last time they ran the council. Since then, last year the Labour Government agreed to give effective control of the street to the Mayor, with planning functions formally transferred earlier this month from the London Borough of Camden and Westminster City Council to the new Oxford Street Development Corporation. Cllr Tim Barnes, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council and Cabinet Member for Growth and Planning, told BBC Radio London: "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 going to find themselves chucking out fumes or getting way too close to pedestrians and cyclists." He said the aim was not to stop the scheme, but to ensure "the scheme that comes forward... is as good as it can be."
Council calls for Oxford Street impact assessment
Conservative councillor Tim Barnes said his party's actions in pushing for a detailed study of the noise and traffic impact on surrounding streets
"... isn't about using the environmental impact assessment to stop the Oxford Street pedestrianisation.
"It's about trying to make sure that the scheme that comes forward, and what we see at the end of all this process, is as good as it can be.
"We know that there are going to be negative impacts on noise, and on air quality, and potentially on pedestrian and cycling safety.
"We just want to understand what the impact of those might be, to be able to compensate for those downsides."
