Westminster City Council’s newly-elected Conservative leader, Paul Swaddle, took the opportunity yesterday evening to set out his priorities for the next four years.
They included a vow to “get Westminster building again”, a pledge to use every power available to make the borough’s streets more safe and hospitable, and a disclosure that earlier in the day he had instructed Westminster’s chief executive officer to “seek legal advice to fight the Mayor” and “look at all the legal avenues that are available to us” for thwarting Sir Sadiq Khan’s plans for transforming Oxford Street, including with pedestrianisation.
Swaddle was speaking (from 41 minutes, below) as one of the guests at a live session of Political Business, podcast of public affairs specialists Lowick Hedry, held at a venue near King’s Cross station. He accused the Labour administration he has just ousted of failing to “put up a fight” against the scheme, even though it too opposed it.
The new council leader had already promised that a legal challenge would be mounted. This following the Tories’ recapture of Westminster last week, having lost control of it in 2022 for the first time in its history. Addressing an audience that included fellow councillors and advisers from a variety of parties plus online viewers he listed possible areas for a such action, a path Labour had chosen not to follow.
The focus would be on what he called “the technical details” such as Transport for London’s consultation about the proposals, the formation of the Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) responsible for delivering the transformation programme, issues relating to repairs and maintenance in the vicinity of Oxford Street but outside the MDC boundary.
In March, Mayor Khan expressed his wish to see the pedestrianisation by the end of the summer of the section of the street stretching westwards from Great Portland Street through Oxford Circus to Selfridges department store and Orchard Street. At that time, Swaddle claimed “the consultation was fudged” and that Khan had “totally abused” the MDC model, which has previously been used, both times during Boris Johnson’s period as Mayor, to bring the development of the Olympic Park in Stratford and the regeneration of the Old Oak and Park Royal area in north west London under City Hall control.
Local opposition to the Oxford Street plan was a significant factor in the election campaign, notably in the marginal West End ward, which saw Labour win all three seats in 2022 but returned a trio of Tories last week. Responses to TfL’s two Londonwide consultations have firmly favoured the Mayor’s approach and a 2024 YouGov poll found that 63 per cent of Londoners supported Oxford Street becoming “a pedestrians-only street” compared with 23 per cent who opposed it.
Swaddle said the council’s “biggest concern is about accessibility”. He pointed out that Oxford Street is a mile long and argued that “a lot of residents and visitors rely on the buses to get up and down Oxford Street”, noting also that Oxford Circus station doesn’t have step-free access.
Elaborating on why he wants to increase property development in Westminster, Swaddle told the Political Business audience that the council needs the additional income from the Community Infrastructure Levy – a form of local tax raised from developers as a condition for giving them planning consent – and wants to see more homes built for local people in the “squeezed middle” groups in terms of income, such as teachers.
He also said he had appointed a cabinet member for enforcement, and emphasised his wish to see a reduction in phone thefts, improved cleanliness, action against cycling on pavements and the efficient clearing away of dockless hire bikes left lying about.
Last update at 19:00, 12 May 2026. Follow Dave Hill on Bluesky and at LinkedIn. Image from TfL.
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