Sadiq Khan has hinted that he could model a pedestrianised version of Oxford Street on Times Square in New York.
The Mayor of London is on a four-day trip to the Big Apple to ‘promote the capital’, and was shown around Manhattan by former New York transport commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.
For the last fifteen years, Times Square has seen several pedestrian blocks and changes which have removed car access.
Despite many concerns at the beginning, the changes are said to be an ‘unmitigated success’, and Khan may look to do the same with London’s iconic shopping zone.
Earlier this month, the government gave the Labour mayor new powers to force through a £150million pedestrianisation of Oxford Street.
Mr Khan wants work to start within two years to remove all vehicles from the famous shopping street – despite warnings it could become a crime-ridden ‘no-go area’.
The proposal is part of a wider regeneration project which Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner claimed will give the popular shopping district ‘the boost it needs’.
This latest visit to the US by Khan is his fourth in eight years. In 2022 he was blasted after pictures emerged of him in the US – on what he called a trip to ‘bang the drum’ for London – visiting a legal drug farm and shop.
Mr Khan was so impressed with the cannabis outlet and production line he announced the formation of a new group to look at decriminalising the drug in Britain.
But the photoshot – which featured him looking serious surrounded by the plants – prompted utter disbelief in some quarters.
Last month, Khan revealed that he is ‘not safe’ as a Muslim politician in Britain and revealed how he feels ‘triggered’ by the recent far-right riots.
In the wake of widespread violence after the Southport stabbing attack, the London mayor reflected on how he experienced the National Front and BNP as he grew up.
He admitted it was ‘heartbreaking’ that his children’s generation had also now lived through what he had to deal with in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Khan urged the Government to bring in tougher rules for social media firms, as he branded current regulations ‘not fit for purpose’.
He said recent riots were the ‘direct consequence’ of misinformation being spread ‘very quickly’ online following the Southport killings.