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November 15, 2007
Cars out as London mayor clears way for Paris-style plage and cycle boulevards
Visitors to London may not find the streets paved with gold but they could certainly find that a lot more streets have been paved, under proposals for the tourist heart of the capital.
Cars will be banned from some of London's busiest streets as part of a bold plan to create continental-style boulevards devoted to pedestrians and cyclists.
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, plans to replicate Paris Plage, the beach created on a highway alongside the Seine each August, on the four-lane Victoria Embankment beside the Thames.
He is also considering a ban on through traffic on a series of roads connecting London's parks and main shopping areas, including Portland Place, which runs between Regent's Park and Oxford Street.
Speaking at Mayor's Question Time at the London Assembly yesterday, Mr Livingstone said that he wanted to create attractive, tree-lined walkways in the style of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Traffic would be diverted on to alternative routes, but shops and restaurants would still be able to receive deliveries outside peak hours.
The first scheme will be the £18 million part-pedestrianisation of Parliament Square, which will involve removing traffic from the south side closest to Westminster Abbey from 2009. Mr Livingstone believes that the success of the Trafalgar Square scheme, where the road beside the National Gallery has been pedestrianised, will help to overcome objections by motoring groups and retailers.
The RAC Foundation said that Mr Livingstone's plan would force traffic on to less suitable routes and add to congestion, which is already almost back to the level before congestion charging began in 2003.
Cars out as London mayor clears way for Paris-style plage and cycle boulevards
Visitors to London may not find the streets paved with gold but they could certainly find that a lot more streets have been paved, under proposals for the tourist heart of the capital.
Cars will be banned from some of London's busiest streets as part of a bold plan to create continental-style boulevards devoted to pedestrians and cyclists.
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, plans to replicate Paris Plage, the beach created on a highway alongside the Seine each August, on the four-lane Victoria Embankment beside the Thames.
He is also considering a ban on through traffic on a series of roads connecting London's parks and main shopping areas, including Portland Place, which runs between Regent's Park and Oxford Street.
Speaking at Mayor's Question Time at the London Assembly yesterday, Mr Livingstone said that he wanted to create attractive, tree-lined walkways in the style of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Traffic would be diverted on to alternative routes, but shops and restaurants would still be able to receive deliveries outside peak hours.
The first scheme will be the £18 million part-pedestrianisation of Parliament Square, which will involve removing traffic from the south side closest to Westminster Abbey from 2009. Mr Livingstone believes that the success of the Trafalgar Square scheme, where the road beside the National Gallery has been pedestrianised, will help to overcome objections by motoring groups and retailers.
The RAC Foundation said that Mr Livingstone's plan would force traffic on to less suitable routes and add to congestion, which is already almost back to the level before congestion charging began in 2003.