As the Mayor of London pushes ahead with plans to pedestrianise much of Oxford Street, it has emerged that more streets in the key West End shopping district could also ban traffic.
Photo: Pexels
In a link-up between major landlord The Crown Estate and local authority Westminster City Council, Regent Street St James’s will become a traffic-free space and the pedestrian area at Piccadilly Circus will be enlarged. It will mean two-way traffic being introduced on current one-way street Haymarket, as well as new cycling routes.
Councillor Geoff Barraclough, cabinet member for planning and economic development at Westminster City Council, called it “a rare opportunity to reimagine the heart of the West End as a greener, more welcoming and accessible place that works better for residents, visitors and local businesses alike”.
The Crown Estate is landlord to many major names on Regent Street and its MD of development, Kristy Lansdown, said: “The nature of cities is changing, with new challenges and opportunities emerging every year. Like other global cities, we are collectively seeking opportunities in London to adapt our places and spaces to ensure they are fit for the future.”
A public engagement on the plans has just started and will run until 10 August.
Pedestrianisation of Oxford Street has become a step closer this year after decades of debate and on-off strategies to push it through. And Westminster City Council said traffic-free plans for the latest area proposed for pedestrianisation are even older with a proposal put forward by Regent Street architect John Nash two centuries ago.
But while such schemes have plenty of support they also meet opposition over fears about how relocating vehicle traffic will impact already-jammed neighbouring streets, as well as how visitors will easily access key areas when buses and taxs are taken out of the mix.
And it’s not unreasonable to imagine that one day further streets in the area might be proposed for pedestrianisation if this new plan gets through and is deemed a success. There are currently no plans to pedestrianise the main part of Regent Street… but who knows?
