Interview: Sadiq Khan answers questions on Oxford Street

Sadiq Khan’s latest plan to transform Oxford Street includes a raft of changes alongside the well-known pedestrianisation, with new cycle routes and a “world class” public space. Public consultation on the Mayor’s plan, which includes the creation of a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), launched on Friday and will run for six weeks.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke with the Mayor about his plans to rejuvenate the declining high street and what he hopes will come from the consultation.

In September, Mayor Khan shocked local authorities when he announced plans to take over and pedestrianise Oxford Street and impose an MDC, a statutory body set up by metro mayors in England to deliver regeneration schemes, to carry out his vision. The version Mayor Khan is proposing, and forms part of this leg of the consultation process, will have its own planning powers and be able to overrule Westminster City Council, which currently runs the shopping high street.

It will consist of a minimum of six people and Mayor Khan has already promised three of those seats to representatives of Westminster City Council. According to consultation documents, the planning body will cover a 1.3-mile strip between Tottenham Court Road station and Marble Arch and could launch as early as 1 January 2026. City Hall said it has no plans to review the body until January 2029.

Mayor Khan told the LDRS: “This consultation is genuinely meaningful. We’re going to wait and see what people say in response to our plans [but] the three big things in these plans today are, one — the principle of pedestrianisation; two – the area we’ve set up [that] we’d like to have as the area; and third — that’s being in charge of that area.”

Khan said he wants to introduce a “phased pedestrianisation” of the street that will begin between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street. This transformation would remove most of the traffic and see public realm improvements along the eastern end of Oxford Street because those areas will “take longer to pedestrianise”, according to consultation documents.

City Hall said the plans are an attempt to compete with the likes of Fifth Avenue in New York, the Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Ginza district in Tokyo. Mayor Khan said: “I think the reality is [that] the way to regenerate, to revitalise and to reinvigorate the [Oxford Street] is to pedestrianise it but we’re going to do it in phases.

“Why? Because I think a big bang won’t work. We don’t want to inconvenience residents. We don’t want to cause problems for buses so what we will do is, once people have responded to the consultation, which ends on May 2, we’ll then work on plans, subject to the consultation, in relation to that phasing.

“In previous plans and previous conversations I’ve had with businesses and others who know this area very well, the first phase will probably involve — again, probably — that area from Oxford Circus going towards the sort of Selfridges area, which is the phase we had in the last plan in 2017/18.”

The LDRS understands the Greater London Authority (GLA) will take over the collection of business rates while Transport for London will manage the roads within the MDC.

Plans for Oxford Street remain vague at the present time but Khan said any changes will make the street easy to access. He said the GLA is considering installing cycle bays outside the pedestrianised zone. It will also look at drop-off points for black taxis being used by disabled people. There is also a promise of a “world class” public space.

There are plans to create cycle routes around Oxford Street while the move to pedestrianise the area will not happen before public realm improvements are made to the street overall. He said: “The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to come to, subject to consultation, a future pedestrianised street whether it’s those that are disabled, whether it’s those that want to come there by bike. We encourage active travel.

“So, we will be, later on, working on plans for drop-off points for black taxis for those who are disabled, where we can have cycle bays for those who want to come by bike. For those who want to carry on cycling, you won’t be able to cycle through the pedestrianised bit but you’ll have routes to cycle around.”

The GLA has already put aside funds in its 2025/26 budget to keep the MDC running for three months. Further funding from the GLA will be confirmed during next year’s budget process.

Regardless, the Mayor believes the project can be funded from “philanthropic sources” alongside public and private sector contributions. There is also an expectation revenue will come from planning application fees, fees from developers and Community Infrastructure Levy receipts.

Khan refused to name private sector entities backing his scheme but promised to reveal who they are at a later stage of the process. He also said he does not envisage increasing taxes for local residents to fund the project.

He said: “It’s really important for them to see the benefits of this project. Look, this is a street that has got a fantastic history but not such a great present.

“We want to restore this street to its former glory and the good thing is we’ve got support from government, we’ve got support from businesses, we’ve got support from many people who want to see this street improve and we know from previous projects we’ve been involved in but also previous projects run around the world, that not only are these scheme self-financing, but they can lead to huge profits and huge growth as well.”

According to GLA’s own estimates, pedestrianising Oxford Street could lead to an increase of Gross Value Added — a key indicator of economic performance in a region — of nearly £82mn in a year compared to a non-pedestrianised Oxford Street, while supporting an additional 781 jobs. This figure appears to come from a study on pedestrianisation in Spanish cities.

In addition, City Hall’s analysis predicts that on average, pedestrianisation could be expected to raise an additional £30mn-£40mn in VAT receipts, while raising an extra £10mn-£20mn in business rates, depending on the scenario and assumptions.

Oxford street currently welcomes approximately 120mn visitors a year and contributed an estimated £25bn to London’s economy in 2022. That equates to one percent of the UK’s total economic output that year.

Khan has also dismissed claims by a West End councillor that he will push ahead his pedestrianisation plans regardless of the feedback he receives from this year’s consultation. He has also ruled out repaying Westminster City Council the £22mn it spent on its own transformation programme, which was cancelled late last year.

Public consultation: Oxford Street transformation.

Editor’s note: This page was updated on Tuesday 11 March to place a corrected map on the page. The map of the Mayoral Development area originally published on this page was incorrect. One of our readers pointed out that there were two different maps on the Mayor’s consultation website. When we contacted the Mayor of London’s office about this they corrected the mistake. A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The incorrect map has now been removed and replaced with an updated high-res version.”

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