'Senseless vanity project': Sadiq Khan faces backlash over Oxford Street pedestrianisation plans
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00:00This is Oxford Street in central London, still regarded by many as the nation's most famous
00:05high street. But it's also at the centre of a big political row because the Mayor of London,
00:11Sir Sadiq Khan, has it on his shopping list. He wants to seize power here in Oxford Street
00:17to enable him to drive through a sort of part pedestrianisation of the street.
00:21Now what will this mean for residents and businesses? Well,
00:25some members of the London Assembly have been here today to find out.
00:28He needs to bring an awful lot more detail about the actual pedestrianisation.
00:35It's one of those things that sounds very easy for the rest of the world until you actually
00:41look at what those challenges are. I think that the Mayor has to do a lot more work when it comes to
00:49how he approaches the next steps towards pedestrianisation of Oxford Street. We can't do it
00:55without bringing people in the local community together. We can't do it without building trust.
01:00We can't do it without having transparency and openness. And those are the things that I'm really
01:06worried about right now. The lack of information and the lack of plans is leading people to be worried
01:13about all sorts of details. But actually without that information, we don't know whether those fears are founded or not.
01:19So what is it that Sir Sadiq wants to do with Oxford Street? Well, primarily to pedestrianise the western section of the street between Oxford Circus and Selfridges.
01:30How would he do this? Well, essentially by moving buses away from that part of the street, also moving the taxis away.
01:36They would have to use Wigmore Street to the north of Oxford Street or other surrounding streets.
01:41How is he doing this? Well, by setting up what he calls a mayoral development corporation, a sort of city hall quindo,
01:48which would assume the powers currently held by Westminster Council and also by Camden Council up at Tottenham Court Road.
01:55Will that happen? Well, a consultation is ongoing just now. It's due to close at the start of May. After that, we will see what the outcome is.
02:03But it's probably likely that Sir Sadiq will gain powers over Oxford Street, but it may be a year or two before we actually see changes on the ground.
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