Business case for transformation of Oxford Street
Request ID: FOI-5024-1718
Date published: 18 April 2018
You asked
I wish to request the following information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
In April 2017, Transport for London and Westminster City Council jointly launched a consultation on plans to “transform”, or pedestrianise, Oxford Street in order to drastically reduce traffic flows through the street. We request the following information from the Department for Transport:
Whether a business case was produced for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, and if so, for that document to be published.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-5024-1718
Thank you for your request received on 28 March 2018 asking for a copy of the business case for the transformation of Oxford Street.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and our information access policy.
In accordance with the EIR, we are not obliged to supply the information as it is subject to a statutory exception to the right of access to information under Regulation 12(4)(d).
In this instance the exception has been applied as disclosure of the information you have requested is still in draft. We hope to submit the proposal to the TfL Board this summer, by which time a full business case will have been developed. We are currently in our feasibility stage and therefore cannot finalise a business case until we make a decision on a way forward. Westminster City Council is the highway authority and ultimately will make a final decision on how to proceed later this year.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test, which requires us to assess whether the public interest in applying the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, it is considered that the public interest favours the publication of the business case once it has been finalised, rather than in response to your request, to ensure the information is provided accurately and in a manner where it is accessible to all interested parties.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
[email protected]
Back to top
