The east end of Oxford Street is facing Compulsory Purchase Order action from Westminster City Council
The council has identified and made public a list of potential sites for redevelopment on the famous shopping street that it is prepared to compulsory purchase.
It has earmarked eleven sites east fo Oxford Circus on Oxford Street that could be redeveloped into large retail-led schemes.
At a cabinet meeting last week, attended by leader of the council Sir Simon Milton, the sites earmarked were agreed and will now go to public consultation.
The threat of CPO action by the council is hoped to attract developers to the area and combat the issue of the disparate land ownership at that end of the street.
The council paper said: ‘The relative difference in plots, land ownership and value of the Oxford Street west and east of Oxford Circus has led to a view that concerted intervention is required to improve the east end in particular. The amount of finance currently being invested in the retail sector and in property offers the opportunity for redevelopment schemes to come forward.’
The initiative is one part of a larger plan to improve the area on one of Britian’s busiest shopping streets. The formation of business improvement district - New West End Company (NWEC), the West End Retail Commission to develop policy options to inform The London Plan review and Westminster City Council’s ‘Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Streets: An Action Plan for the Retail Streets’ all seek to improve the public realm in the area.