New West End Company

A shared vision

Ten Steps the Mayor should take for London’s West End

1. Reduce the number of buses - Establish a Mayoral Commission to examine the future needs and challenges for travel into and around the West End, to define a vision for its future and a plan to achieve its early implementation.
2. Meet EU emission standards - Commit to meeting legal emission standards within one year by putting in place a Berlin type low emission zone for the West End.
3. Clean up the clutter - Support specific plans for key areas to create iconic, contemporary and green environments. Help match fund West End property owners’ investment to further improve public spaces.
4. Recognise that the image of the West End is important for the whole of London - Use your agencies to provide resources and jointly work with business and Westminster City Council to focus on specific ‘eyesore’ problems from pedicabs to dumped rubbish and from illegal traders to abandoned road works.
5. Take a hard look at the impact of marches and protests - Press the police to use their powers to route marches away from the West End and towards more appropriate areas.
6. Continue to drive down crime - Progress has been made over the last 3 years – ensure that police resources are kept in place to continue reducing crime rates.
7. Minimise the disruption of Crossrail works - Work closely with West End businesses, Westminster City Council and Transport for London to ensure that Crossrail plays its part in maintaining the vitality of this international shopping destination throughout construction.
8. Support the revitalisation of areas still in need of improvement - Make the regeneration of east Oxford Street, the Marble Arch area and New Bond Street an economic and planning priority. With the relevant local authorities drive forward a vision of what the area should look like in 10 years’ time.  Introduce more retail and leisure focussed planning policies for the BID district and through the revised London Plan work to bring all partners together to create a retail district without equal.
9. Champion the West End - Acknowledge the West End’s vital importance, both to London’s economy and Londoners’ wellbeing. Give the District the priority it deserves in particular through encouraging more traffic-free days which have proved such a success for millions of Londoners.
10. Ensure that the West End also wins a legacy from the Olympic Games - Recognise through joined up and focussed marketing that the West End, as Britain’s shop-window to the world, can help maximise London’s potential as a key cultural hub and world city.