Westminster Council does not know where cyclists displaced from Oxford Street should go, its deputy leader has admitted — a week after the West End shopping street became traffic-free. The admission has opened a fresh row, because the council’s former streets chief insists a funded plan for alternative routes already exists and is ready to be used.
Tim Barnes, the council’s deputy leader, warned it was only a matter of time before collisions between cyclists and pedestrians became common on the pedestrianised street. Cyclists are still being seen riding along Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street, despite riding being banned there.
Marking a week since the road became car-free, Barnes said: “We just don’t know where this level of bike traffic can sensibly go.”
“It’s not just about looking at where in any one stretch they should be, it’s how you create continuous paths. The problem with taking Oxford Street out was that it was London’s primary east-west route. Every journey time is going to be longer as a result of that. Buses are taking longer, taxis are taking longer, emergency vehicles are going to take longer to get where they need to be,” he said.
“Cyclists are just one of the many users who are going to lose out in terms of journey times and convenience.”
Businesses have reported increased footfall since the street went traffic-free, but bus journeys have lengthened as traffic has been pushed onto surrounding roads. Barnes said the council had been concerned from the outset that removing London’s main east-west road would push traffic onto smaller side roads behind it and inevitably lead to problems.
The row is the latest chapter in a saga London Streets has followed since the street’s first traffic-free day. Cyclists were seen riding past the new green bollards on day one, despite signs telling them to dismount, and riders face fines of up to £160 for cycling through the pedestrian zone.
A plan ‘ready to be executed’
Max Sullivan, the former Labour councillor who was Westminster’s cabinet member for streets until May’s local elections, when the Conservatives regained control of the council, has challenged Barnes’s account directly. He shared plans for alternative cycle routes drawn up while the council was Labour-led.
“Bad news: Westminster Council are worried about where cyclists will go now that Oxford Street is closed to them. Good news! It was my job to worry about this until May and there is a plan WCC can execute and TfL are ready to support it,” Sullivan wrote on 3 November.
The plans grew out of a public consultation held in 2024, the results of which were published last December. Residents favoured a cycle route along Wigmore Street, which runs parallel to Oxford Street, but the council said high traffic volumes and significant kerbside loading activity presented significant challenges and meant the route was not currently feasible.
Instead, the council said it would support cycleway plans along New Cavendish Street, helped by its links to Cycleway 27 and Hyde Park.
Sullivan said Transport for London had been supportive of the plans and had contributed £835,000 directly to Westminster City Council’s programme of cycleway expansion in the borough in 2025/26, with a further £475,000 provisionally committed for next year.
“It’s over to you WCC. I approved a £12.7M programme for cycleways — how will it be spent? Or will it be spent at all?” he wrote.
‘Thousands’ need safe routes urgently
The London Cycling Campaign, which welcomed the pedestrianisation, warned that Westminster Council had not acted quickly enough to bring in high-quality parallel cycle routes. Traffic counts show thousands of people had been cycling along Oxford Street every day, the campaign said, and those riders need safe alternative routes urgently.
In the meantime, some dockless e-bike hire operators have begun geo-fencing their fleets to stop users riding their bikes down the pedestrianised street.
Christina Moe Gjerde, a vice president at hire operator Voi, said: “With Oxford Street now pedestrianised, the focus should be on making it work as part of a joined-up transport network, where walking, public transport, cycling and shared micromobility complement one another.”
“London is now a cycling city, so safe alternative cycling routes are essential to keep people moving across the capital while protecting pedestrianised spaces,” she said.
Who controls the street?
Part of the dispute turns on who is responsible for what. Westminster Council long objected to the Mayor of London’s plans for pedestrianising Oxford Street, and the street’s jurisdiction was moved from the council to a newly formed development corporation and Transport for London to allow the street to become car-free. The council remains responsible for the area’s cycle networks, and campaigners have criticised it for not preparing alternative routes before pedestrianisation began.
Frustration has already spilled onto the street itself. A Critical Mass-organised “mass trespass” on Sunday saw 600 riders cycle along the pedestrianised Oxford Street to demonstrate for better, safer cycling infrastructure. One participant said taking motor traffic out was a positive step, but banning cycling without first providing safe and direct alternatives along parallel roads to the north or south of the closed section was not a sustainable transport policy. It is not clear whether protesters were calling for cycle infrastructure on Oxford Street itself.
For now, the two sides of the argument remain far apart: the council’s deputy leader says nobody knows where this level of bike traffic can sensibly go, while his predecessor says the answer was drawn up, funded and handed over months ago — and is waiting to be used.
