London mayor Ken Livingstone plans to lure shoppers back into central London with a major overhaul of Oxford Street, according to press reports.
A briefing note drafted by the Greater London Authority for Livingstone and obtained by The Times reveals that the mayor wants to make revitalising the Capital's biggest shopping hub one of the chief proposals in his development plans for London.
Livingstone has appointed the head of development body The New West End Company, Ian Henderson, to chair a group that will develop and put the idea forward by next spring.
The group's pitch is expected to include plans for new hotels, restaurants and large department stores in the area, as well as vast improvements to transport services to ease the street's current plague of congestion problems.
Earlier this year, engineers proposed constructing a mile-long monorail system along Oxford Street, stopping at a new convention centre and terminating at Piccadilly Circus.
The plans also called for pedestrianising the road below the monorail.
Livingstone is likely to pressure Westminster Council to grant planning permission so that development may get underway.
London borough councils are required by law to be in "general conformity" with the mayor's London Plan for it to go ahead.
A spokesperson from the London Development Agency (LDA), the mayor's agency for business and jobs, was unavailable for comment.
