Very Important Pedestrians Day

This Assembly notes and regrets the decision of the New West End Company to cancel this year’s VIP (Very Important Pedestrians) Day, during which Oxford Street and Regent Street would have been pedestrianised between 8am – 8pm.

This Assembly further notes that VIP Day – which has taken place annually since 2005 – has been responsible for increasing visitor numbers, visitor satisfaction and retail sales, as well as decreasing local air pollution on Europe’s busiest retail street.  

This Assembly agrees with the Mayor’s description of the event as “an essential part of London’s shopping calendar”  and notes the West End Commission’s recent call for the number of traffic-free days to be expanded with “as many as 15 traffic-free days per year on the West End’s major retail streets.”  

This Assembly therefore calls on the Mayor to write to the Chief Executive of the New West End Company to seek clarification over the future of this popular event; and separately to the Leader of Westminster City Council to understand why a further expansion of traffic free days is “not on the table”   despite being recommended by the West End Commission in its final report of April 2013.