Westminster City Council has written to the Government demanding a full environmental impact assessment before the Mayor of London's Oxford Street pedestrianisation scheme goes ahead, Cllr Tim Barnes, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council, told BBC London on Friday.
Barnes said the assessment was needed to understand the true impact on air quality, noise and cyclist safety, after the Mayor's own submission to government indicated that displaced traffic could push nitrous oxide levels over legal limits and targets as far as Piccadilly and potentially St James's Park. He noted that Westminster is responsible for around 4 per cent of national GDP, and that even a small downturn in the wider economy surrounding Oxford Street, driven by finance, creative industries and hospitality rather than retail alone, could easily outweigh the benefits the Mayor is seeking from the scheme itself.
Barnes also said the London Fire Brigade had failed to get its own submission into the Mayor's consultation in time, and called for the project to be delayed so it can be delivered properly, with adequate traffic management, policing and fire service planning, rather than rushed to a timetable he said the Mayor "just made up."
"This 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 of this process is as good as it can be.
"Westminster as a whole is responsible for about 4% of national GDP. And if there is just a little bit of a downturn in the economy north and south of Oxford Street, that will easily outbalance the improvements that the mayor is seeking to gain on Oxford Street itself.
"We'd like to see the project delayed so it can be done right, rather than the mayor pushing everybody to a timescale that he just made up."
Responding to a suggestion that the assessment was simply a delaying tactic, Barnes said the aim was not to stop pedestrianisation but to ensure the scheme delivered is the best it can be. Transport for London said in a statement that it had submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment Screening Opinion to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which would determine whether a full assessment is required.
