00:00London Mayor Sadiq Khan has described the one-day pedestrianisation of Oxford Street as a roaring success, citing feedback from a small number of local businesses.
00:13A survey by the new West End company, the Business Improvement District, that has backed the mayor's vision for the area, found that 67% of Oxford Street stores reported similar or higher sales than on a typical Sunday.
00:33However, only 12 stores responded to the survey and half said they had not formally taken part in the event.
00:41Sir Sadiq Khan has said the Traffic Free Day had been designed as a celebration of everything that makes our dynamic city great and argued that the data showed Oxford Street thrives when people not traffic are at its centre.
00:58He added that he was pressing ahead with proposals to pedestrianise the streets and breathe new life into the area and the rest of London.
01:08Here is what he said just before the pedestrianisation took place last month.
01:13Well, I'm of a vintage where I remember how wonderful Oxford Street was. It was a vibrant street, great shops.
01:19I spent many Saturdays with my daughters inside Chop Shop.
01:22But the reality is there's been in decline for some time. I would call it managed decline.
01:28You've seen a situation where more and more people are shopping online or going to out-of-town centres, shopping centres.
01:34High-profile shops have left Oxford Street and the pandemic was a real body blow to this street.
01:41So what our plans are is to pedestrianise this street going forward, where this is a place where people can walk.
01:47It increases footfall. It increases spend. It's a great place to shop, to do leisure.
01:53I fully understand those minority of residents who have concerns.
01:58We've consulted on a number of occasions. In the past, more than 60% of residents have supported plans to pedestrianise the street.
02:05Most recently, more than 70% of those who responded support our plans.
02:10We're going to carry on, not just working with residents and the council, work with retailers, landowners and others to make sure we can return this street to its previous glory,
02:20the nation's high street, where shops and businesses and residents flourish and thrive.
02:25Well, look, we've already worked with councils to pedestrianise parts of London outside Somerset House.
02:30We've, this summer, invested in alfresco dining during the summer months, so we are working with the government so we can have more powers over licensing and so forth.
02:41I think hospitality, retail are really important sectors in our economy, but also they're one of the reasons people love to come to London.
02:48It's really important to recognise that these are jewels in our capital city's crown, and that's why we're going to carry on thinking about what more we can do for London to carry on being the greatest city in the world.
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