Oxford Street Again

While we welcome the Mayor’s concerns over Oxford Street and enthusiasm for yet more spending of public money its not clear much has changed since last time pedestrianisation was considered. Local people and businesses, who are best informed on what Oxford Street is like 24 hours 365 days a year, think removing busses and taxis is a bad idea and impractical. Taking powers to ignore those views doesn’t mean the concerns they have expressed aren’t real.

The WCC scheme that is now being abandoned would have been delivered in 2025. Help for Oxford Street is needed now but the Mayor’s scheme will involve years of further delay and costs.

Why would removing busses improve access for shoppers? And where will the busses go except into congested narrow residential streets?

The Mayor has said that despite all this, he wants to pedestrianise Oxford Street and will designate a Mayoral Development Corporation to take over the area to achieve this. 

Key questions are:-

The actual area that falls within the development corporation control - WCC have suggested just the Oxford Street highway itself and no buildings but it may cut a swathe through the whole area including half of Soho in order to deal with the traffic displacement. If Soho is divided into a MDC area and a WCC area for planning purposes we would be concerned. It might be hard to decide where to put the line without disrupting and dividing the communities around Oxford Street.

If the MDC takes over planning does that mean a different plan for parts of Soho? Does the Soho Neighbourhood plan still apply to the MDC area? Do we need to do a new neighbourhood plan for the bit of Soho in the MDC?

Will there still be a planning process involving public hearings and consultation and appeals in the MDC area? Excluding all local voices from planning decisions in an area where thousands of people already live is not really in step with the stated purpose of the Localism Act.

“The Localism Act contains a wide range of measures to devolve more powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities greater control over local decisions like housing and planning.”

Paragraph 3 of the Explanatory Notes to the Act

How do we get involved in MDC decisions and consultations? MDC's have a poor reputation nationally for this.

Will listed buildings and other heritage assets such as conservation areas still be protected in the MDC area?

Will the Westminster City Plan continue to apply to the MDC area?

Will rules on building heights also be abandoned?

All of the key heritage and residential amenity issues in the City Plan could now be re-opened and re-litigated so that property companies can have another go with new decision makers who are not elected councillors. Is that fair? Does it “give local communities greater control over local decisions like housing and planning?”

All of these areas of central London are fully developed and owned - so the main powers of development could not be used without also using the power to compulsorily purchase properties. Is that likely?

How will the MDC be funded given that it won’t own any property or develop any itself unless it uses compulsory purchase powers? Will the MDC increase business rates in the area to pay for the MDC and the pedestrianisation. Will it levy a different council tax on residents in the MDC area?

Should other UK tax payers pay for yet further investment in London (again)?

The abandoned WCC scheme was to be paid for by the larger property companies, will the MDC be paid for by smaller businesses and tenants through higher rates? How does that help with a recovery?

The above press cutting suggests that the property companies have just reneged on the WCC deal because they saw the Mayor coming with more public money so they could avoid paying what they had already agreed to pay. How is that in the public interest?

While Oxford Street has its problems its very far from an abandoned industrial area such as the area forming the Olympic Park - while it needs work - regeneration is actually a bit of a stretch for what this legislation was intended for. As the Mayor points out:-

“Oxford Street still welcomes more than 500,000 visitors every day and generates approximately five per cent of the capital’s economic output (GVA), the equivalent of £22.75bn (in 2019)*. It is home to numerous flagship stores, including Selfridges and John Lewis, as well as being a key commercial centre.”

So it’s not really regeneration is it?

Is the MDC genuinely being used for re-development or is it merely a power grab? If the project fails it will have a massive local impact - but voting out the local authority will make no difference in 2026 (though is now quite likely given the Mayor’s spectacular no confidence vote in his Labour colleagues at WCC). It moves power to the centre and dilutes any meaningful accountability. Other visitor attraction projects did fail - like the Marble Arch Mound - so this is not a remote possibility.

We are concerned that the assumption that removing busses will increase total UK retail revenues is not a robust assumption (the mayor’s justification for this intervention is about increasing total retail spend) - but increased footfall is only helpful if the per visitor spend is maintained - its also pointless if the footfall is merely transferred from other London shopping areas. Is there any data on substitution? This analysis by WCC and NWEC suggests changes to Oxford Street will just move shoppers from Westfield to Oxford Street with no increase in tax receipts.

Many people both get to Oxford Street and negotiate its length on a bus - so some people that currently spend on Oxford Street will not bother.

Many Westminster residents use buses that cross London through Oxford Street - they don’t want and some aren’t able to use the tube. Is it fair to remove their access to Oxford Street and to other parts of London?

Equalities impact seems to be an issue with the elderly and disabled often needing to use buses and taxis in preference to the tube or walking with heavy shopping. Will this scheme have a disproportionate impact on the elderly and those with restricted mobility? Is that fair?

The stated intervention - removal of busses and taxis - only deals with one issue that Oxford Street faces (overcrowding in part of the afternoon). Its not the only problem - a more complete list would include:-

the decline of high street retail due to home delivery

increased competition from other (covered and traffic free) shopping areas such as Westfield and Battersea

possibly just too much land devoted to one use (retail) in London - the use is declining

VAT treatment for visitors’ purchases

the drop is the value and interest of the retail offer itself on Oxford Street - the loss of independent and unique businesses

shops in high footfall areas being used for money laundering

Does the mayor have proposed solutions to these problems as well? Why does the bus removal impact these problems?

We still don’t know where the busses and taxis will go. The previous 2018 plans were abandoned because that issue could not be solved. What has actually changed that means it can be solved this time round?

One solution to one issue would be to have a rates adjustment for businesses that are independent, unique and have some heritage value and actually attract visitors - this is something we really want WCC to do in Soho for Maison Bertaux and Camisa for example … it does not require the creation of a MDC.

Oxford Street is a place that requires its history and function for multiple users to be respected - putting a visitor attraction for tourists above all else is not a balanced response to the area - is it likely to be a sustainable change which respects the street’s history and its multiple uses and users?

We aren’t so sure.