How Oxford Street will be ‘safest in London’ after pedestrianisation

Measures to make car-free Oxford Street safe for pedestrians have been revealed, including CCTV, while the use of live facial recognition has not been ruled out.

The £150 million Oxford Street pedestrianisation plan is going full steam ahead, with parts of the traffic-free zone expected to be ready by the end of the summer.

The vision of a 0.7-mile stretch free of cars, taxis, buses or bikes is now going ahead after the proposal was given the green light last week.

More details have emerged about what the street will look like, and a time frame for the long-awaited changes, which aim to restore the iconic street ‘to its former glory.’

What safety measures will it have?

Metro met with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, on top of John Lewis today, with a view of the soon-to-be changed Oxford Circus in the background.

The mayor didn’t rule out the use of controversial live facial recognition cameras, which the Met Police have been using across London for years to deter and catch criminals.

He said the police are using it in ‘a proportionate manner.’

Khan told Metro: ‘As far as Oxford Street is concerned at the moment, what we’re going to try to do in terms of it being traffic-free by the end of this year, is use the opportunity to work with the police service in having the most safe street possible, and that means designing out the possibility of crime occurring.’

The pedestrian zone will be well-lit along with CCTV, and working with the Met Police to make the street safe, with a particular focus on the safety of women and girls, Khan said.

He told Metro that the design of the street will be rooted in public safety to ‘make sure this is as safe as it can be from terrorists who we know want to cause damage.’

While no live facial recognition technology has been confirmed on the shopping street, privacy and civil liberties campaigners cautioned against Oxford Street being turned into ‘a permanent digital police line-up.’

Jasleen Chaggar, a legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, told Metro: ‘If the newly walkable Oxford Street becomes another zone for intrusive facial recognition surveillance, it shows that nowhere in London is safe from becoming a permanent digital police line-up.” 

‘Londoners who are not suspected of any wrongdoing should be able to walk freely in public spaces without having to submit to identity checks that process personal information as sensitive as their DNA or fingerprint.” 

‘The Mayor says he wants to turn Oxford Street into a world-leading urban space, so why he won’t rule out Orwellian tech that is more at home in authoritarian regimes than in a democratic city?’

Safety bollards will also be erected to prevent vehicle access to the pedestrianised zone, Metro understands.

When will Oxford Street be pedestrianised?

Work is underway to make the first section of the road between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street traffic-free by the end of this summer, the City Hall said.

This means rerouting buses like number 94, 98, 139, 390 and the night buses. Access will be limited to emergency services only, and to service vehicles between midnight and 7am.

When asked about the exact date for the completion of the scheme, he said it will be ‘as soon as we can.’

The street will have trees, more seating and areas for children to play along with space for events.

Londoners were given a taste of what to expect last September, when the road was temporarily closed, with stalls, food and music lining up the street.

However, not everyone is convinced by the plan.

Steve McNamara, a black cab driver and the general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, told Metro that he had ‘serious concern’ for rerouted traffic, including bus journey times.

Khan said: ‘We are diverting some buses which use Oxford Street. Why? Because we want it to be traffic-free. We don’t want buses, taxis, private hire vehicles, pedicabs or bicycles to be on this street.

‘Some of the buses will be on parallel streets. We are going to make sure that it is proportionate to what we want but also has the residents supporting it as well.’

The majority of nearly 3,000 people who responded to the latest consultation were ‘positive’ about these changes, the mayor added.

The mayor said he was excited to see Oxford Street being turned into ‘the world’s best place for retail, leisure, events and attractions.’

‘It is really important to get this right.

‘Ideally, I’d have liked to have done this some time ago, but it has given us the chance to learn from other places in the world where they have pedestrianised busy roads – Copenhagen, Barcelona, New York and other places.

‘It has led to higher footfall, businesses doing better, the street being safer and more people being attracted.’

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