The part-pedestrianisation of Oxford Street should be in place by next summer, The Standard has been told.
Officials involved in London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s £150m scheme are confident of delivering “changes on the ground” within the next nine to 10 months.
They have ruled out media reports that traffic could be banned from Oxford Street as soon as next Spring.
However, Sir Sadiq’s plans – which would ban buses, taxis and cyclists from about a mile of the street between Selfridges and Ikea in a bid to aid the regeneration of the nation’s most famous high street – could be placed in jeopardy if the Tories reclaim control of Westminster council.
The Tories have vowed to seek a judicial review of the mayor’s scheme if they are returned to power at Westminster City Hall in the borough elections next May.
At present, Labour controls the council with 28 councillors, against 25 Tories and one Reform member. Many residents living near Oxford Street oppose the plans as they fear this would divert traffic through residential areas.
Paul Swaddle, leader of the Tory opposition on Westminster council, told The Standard: “We have pledged to fight the mayor on Oxford Street.
“He does not have a clear plan, he has not explained where the traffic goes, he has not resolved disabled and less-able access, and it is not supported by residents across Westminster. The mayor also has not explained how he will pay for it.
“We have and will continue to fight it at every step. Last March, we put money into the budget to fund a judicial review, but Labour voted it down. We will do the same again this year.”
As The Standard has previously reported, TfL is due to launch a second consultation on Oxford Street next month.
This will set out in detail how the 16 bus routes that use Oxford Street will be diverted. About 35 buses an hour run along the section of the road between Selfridges and Oxford Street.
Last month, Westminster council formally passed control of Oxford Street to Transport for London. The next stage is for a mayoral development corporation to be established on January 1 next year, giving Sir Sadiq money-raising powers to fund the changes.
City Hall sources said the aim was to make progress with the scheme as quickly as possible, with “change on the ground next summer”, subject to the outcome of the TfL consultation.
TfL and City Hall will need to ensure that the consultation – and the subsequent decisions taken by the mayor – are legally “watertight” or they could open themselves up to a judicial review.
Michael Bolt, of the Marylebone Association, said he believed the mayor was accelerating his plans because he feared that control of the council could swing back to the Conservatives in next May's local elections.
"The Tories have made a pledge to the electorate that they will fight this, by way of a judicial review," Mr Bolt told The Standard. "The mayor will know that, and will want to try to bring forward his plans, to pre-empt any judicial review."
He said the mayor was now able to accelerate his plans as the council, rather than contesting it, had transferred the legal ownership of Oxford Street to TfL, via a "non-key decision" by a sole cabinet member last month. Labelling it as a non-key, or minor decision, meant that opposition councillors were unable to call the decision in for debate and further scrutiny.
Referring to the preparatory work being done on the diversionary routes, Mr Bolt added: "We know exactly where all this traffic will go. It will go through Marylebone and Fitzrovia. If they close Oxford Street, then Wigmore Street/Mortimer Street is the primary route."
"In 2018 it was given the thumbs down by residents, and Westminster council forced TfL to withdraw the scheme. It was massively unpopular then, and it will be equally unpopular now."
Last week, Sir Sadiq hailed the one-day part-pedestrianisation of the street – for a “showcase” event on September 21 – as a “roaring success”, though this was based on feedback from only a dozen firms.
TfL commissioner Andy Lord told The Standard last week that there was “no firm date” for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street but said the aim was “to do it as soon as possible”.
Mr Lord said the one-day closure was “extremely successful” and added: “We are really excited about the project and look forward to getting the consultation going and getting the plans in place to make it pedestrianised.”
Asked about the re-routing of the buses, Mr Lord said: “There has been a lot of detailed planning on what the options are.
“While we want to pedestrianised Oxford Street, we want to make sure we have a fully accessible and operationally reliable bus network to get people into the area and away.”
Asked for a timeline, Mr Lord said: “We are still working through that but we are keen to do it as quickly as we can, working with the stakeholders involved. No firm date from our perspective, and we will work very closely with the Mayor’s office and Westminster [council], but we want to do it as soon as we can.”
Asked if the scheme would be in place by May 2028 – the date of the next mayoral elections – Mr Lord said: “I hope we will do it as quickly as we can. The mayor has got a very strong ambition to get it done. I don’t see any reason why that [date] isn’t achievable.”
