Sadiq Khan approves extra £6m for Oxford Street pedestrianisation plans

The Mayor of London has approved just over £6 million in additional funding to plan for the proposed pedestrianisation of Oxford Street.

A very empty Oxford Street – Christmas Day 2008 (c) ianVisits

As part of plans to create a Mayoral Development Area (MDA) around Oxford Street, in September 2025, the Mayor approved the designation of Oxford Street and several side streets as GLA Roads – and hence managed by Transport for London (TfL) rather than Westminster Council.

The Mayor has now approved the transfer of £6.29m from GLA Group reserves to cover the preparation costs for pedestrianising Oxford Street, and ongoing maintenance of the roads in the meantime.

A Mayoral Decision states that funding is needed within this financial year because the project’s delivery has been faster than predicted at the beginning of the year.

It notes that the formal decision to pedestrianise Oxford Street hasn’t been taken yet, so the “preparatory and design work is being progressed at risk”.

That’s more significant now than it was a week ago.

When the Mayor of London took control of the area around Oxford Street, it was done against the wishes of the Labour-controlled Westminster Council, who complained at the time that they had less than a week’s notice of the Mayor’s intentions. They later accepted the fait accompli and worked to support the measure.

However, following the recent local elections, Westminster Council returned to Conservative control and has already indicated it will oppose the Mayor’s plans.

At a recent post-election event, Westminster Council’s new leader, Paul Swaddle, accused the Mayor of pursuing a “vanity project” and that he had already instructed the council’s CEO to “seek legal advice and to fight the Mayor” and “look at all the legal avenues that are available to us”

In the meantime, TfL is currently the legally responsible body for maintaining Oxford Street, and the Mayor has approved funding to continue the work until the end of this year.

If the Mayor of London’s plans go ahead, the Mayoral decision says that future maintenance arrangements and costs will be agreed in discussion between the Oxford Street MDC, once established, and TfL.