OSDC board welcomes new members and makes committee appointments

At the second meeting of the Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC) board, chair Scott Parsons began by saying there was a lot of excitement about Sadiq Khan’s announcement the day before giving TfL the go ahead to start on the process of pedestrianising Oxford Street West.

Khan’s decision came immediately after the publication on 26 February of the public consultation report on plans to remove all buses, taxis and pedal cycles between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street.

The plans will see all drivers and cyclists diverted through Marylebone and part of Fitzrovia by the end of this summer. Mayor Khan claims popular support for the scheme despite it being strongly opposed by residents in the neighbourhoods around Oxford Street.

At the board meeting, Parsons welcomed Penny Bagnall-Smith to the board — nominated by Westminster Council to represent residents in and around the Oxford Street development area.

She is chair of Westminster Amenity Societies Forum and would make sure residents “voices are heard”.

Also nominated by Westminster is Cllr Geoff Barraclough, cabinet member for planning at the council. The two will sit on the board alongside Westminster Council leader Adam Hug.

New chief executive of OSDC Nabeel Khan attended the board for the first time in his role and updated members with a progress report.

He said that things were moving “at pace” with a new website and branding launched and a recruitment of the senior executive team underway.

Parsons then invited board members to approve the establishment of a planning committee chaired by Margaret Casely-Hayford, and an audit and risk committee to be chaired by Emir Faisal.

Before approving the appointments, councillor Geoff Barraclough raised his hand to comment on the creation of a planning committee and to register his opposition to it.

“Development corporations normally exist to take an area of brownfield, untransformed land and turn it into an end state,” he said.

“Here we have got an area which is already developed, and there already is development going through — the new House of Fraser, the new Debenhams buildings, coming on stream soon, Wells House, South Molton triangle underway — a development pipeline underway under an existing city plan and the existing Westminster planning committee.

“I think it is dangerous for democracy for an unelected body like this one to take sweeping planning powers without a clear political direction about what it’s going to do with those powers.

“This is a vacuum that this organisation is stepping into. We don’t know what you’re going to do with the planning powers you are going to get.

“Until that happens, I’m not comfortable establishing a planning committee. We already have a planning committee at Westminster. We already have a plan that is working fine.

“This organisation needs to elaborate something detailed and something better before I could support that.”

Parsons responded by saying his comments would be noted but the committee is approved as a majority have agreed.

Commenting on Barraclough’s objection to the creation of a planning committee, Casely-Hayford said that the Mayor was democratically elected and that he has the authority to create such a committee.

She said in her role as chair of the planning committee she would have regard to “all stakeholders” and would be working within a properly constituted framework. “I really can’t see there is an issue there,” she said.

Councillor Hug stressed the importance of local residents having an input on the planning process with their “full engagement” on the development of the planning policy and to be able to speak at planning meetings ahead of decisions being taken.

Councillor Richard Olszewski offered the assistance of “Camden’s expertise to help with stakeholder engagement”. He said the local authority had looked at the “fundamentals of participation”.

However, Camden has had no engagement with residents in Fitzrovia with neither Olszewski nor local councillors taking an interest in hearing local people’s views about the incursion of the Oxford Street development area into a large part of the neighbourhood. Olszewski has previously said he was “content” with the move.

Instead, Olszewski told the board about his council’s work to the north around Euston Station and Camden’s ambition to create its own development corporation there.

Nabeel Khan emphasised that residents “are absolutely core to the legitimacy of this entire programme”.

“The residents will still have statutory consultation rights on planning applications, on traffic orders, on the local plan process. We will be following the exact same approach that any other local authority will follow.”

He said that there will be “resident engagement forums that operate continuously” and that residents will be treated “more than just a stakeholder group”.

The OSDC planning authority will begin exercising its functions after 1 April, taking on the role previously done by Camden and Westminster councils within the boundary of the development area.

The next OSDC board meeting will be held on Tuesday 24 March 2026.

Last week TfL released the results of its consultation on pedestrianising Oxford Street West between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street.

Mayor Khan immediately afterwards directed TfL to start on implementing the scheme with the street due to be free of all traffic by September.

“I want this stretch of Oxford Street to be transformed into a pedestrian plaza — a space designed to host world-class events, from sport to culture and fashion, as well as exciting new retail and leisure experiences, with the street also able to host some fantastic events as soon as this year,” he said.

With the area to the north of Oxford Street West to bear the brunt of the displaced motor traffic, a spokesperson for the Marylebone Association commented:

“Oxford Street is not just a shopping destination. It is a transport corridor serving older residents, disabled users, workers and visitors from across London. Removing east-west buses and taxis has serious consequences, and TfL’s own figures show very limited backing for those changes.

“The data shows widespread anxiety about traffic being pushed into residential streets rather than reduced. That cannot simply be dismissed as resistance to change — it reflects genuine operational risk.

“This is no longer a story of overwhelming public mandate. It is a contested and complex proposal that requires far greater scrutiny before irreversible steps are taken.”

Board of the Oxford Street Development Corporation — Friday 27 February 2026. Agenda. Webcast.

Transport for London proposed transport and highway changes to enable the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street: consultation report.

Oxford Street Development Corporation website.

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