Local councils who want to work with Transport for London on major schemes could in future be expected to make “a public Cabinet level commitment” to the project and agree to underwrite any costs incurred by TfL should the council later withdraw support.
The proposals are the result of Westminster Council’s decision to walk away from TfL and Mayor Sadiq Khan’s flagship project to pedestrianise Oxford Street and are set out in a ‘closedown report’ presented to the TfL board but withheld from publication.
In the report, which was released under a Freedom of Information request, TfL officials accuse the council of “an unprecedented example of bad faith” in withdrawing support for the scheme last summer.
The Council has always maintained that its decision was made after public consultations showed “the majority of Westminster residents” didn’t support the proposals and it is now drawing up its own plans to improve the area.
Oxford Street Close Report_Redacted by mayorwatch on Scribd
