Oxford Street to be pedestrianised by 2020

If it is up to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Oxford Street will be pedestrianised by 2020, the BBC reports.

Mayor Khan’s office said that the plan is to ban all traffic, including buses and taxi’s, from the world famous shopping street in an effort to combat air pollution and make shopping there a safer experience. Oxford Street currently attracts more than four million visitors each week.

The ban will take place in two stages, with the first phase directed at the eastern section of the street, between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus. There is already a ban on cars for most of Oxford Street between 7 am and 7 pm each day, apart from Sunday.

Efforts to curb traffic on Oxford Street were first implemented by former Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2005, when Christmas Day was decreed a pedestrian-only shopping experience. Since then, various traffic-free shopping days have been introduced.

Despite the obvious advantages of the plan, there are concerns about the actual reduction in traffic. “The key to any Oxford Street improvements is a very significant reduction of buses that move through the area and we need to ensure that traffic is not displaced creating congestion and air pollution elsewhere,” Philippa Roe, the leader of Westminster Council, told the BBC, saying that pedestrianisation was only one of a range of options and that work with the borough’s partners was currently being conducted to ensure the best solution.