The street outside Bond Street’s Elizabeth line station is be pedestrianised after Westminster Council approved plans for a series of traffic reduction schemes around Oxford Street.
Three areas have been identified — Davies Street and James Street are on either side of Oxford Street near Bond Street tube station, while the third location, Grosvenor Square is nearby.
Oxford Street area improvement map – source Westminster Council
At Davies Street, the council plans to pedestrianise the section between Oxford Street and the Elizabeth line entrance, and property developer contributions already fund that project.
On the other side of Oxford Street, is the cafe lined James Street, and the plans are to make the temporary covid pavement widening permanent, while there will also be some other local changes to road traffic routes. Nearby is Grosvenor Square, which is surrounded by a busy two-lane road, and the plans will have improved pedestrian and cycling facilities to reduce the dominance of the car in the area.
Both the Grosvenor Square and James Street will go ahead once the council has secured half the cost from third-party funding.
In total, they estimate the cost of the three projects at £16.3 million – of which Grosvenor Square would swallow £10 million, James Street costs £5 million, and the first and fully funded scheme to pedestrianise the northern end of Davies Street will cost just £1.3 million.
Discussions are underway with The Grosvenor Estate to fund half of the Grosvenor Square scheme, while local property owners are being asked to contribute to the James Street plan.
Pedestrianising of Davies Street can go ahead as soon as the plans are signed off, as S106 payments from property developers fund it, and that money needs to be spent by 2028 anyway.
Leave a Reply