future west end: creating a world-class location...future west end: creating a world-class location...

Future West End: creating a world-class location

Future West End: creating a world-class location 1

www.westminster.gov.uk/westend

ContentsForeword 3

A call to action 5

The challenge: managing a world-class city 6

Westminster as a catalyst for change 7

Ambition one: boosting business and tourism 8

Ambition two: better quality of life for residents 12

Ambition three: building on our cultural heritage 14

The future 15


ForewordPeople quite rightly refer to the West End as ‘a shop window for Britain’, ‘a culturaljewel’ and the ‘commercial heart of London’. The West End’s theatre district alonecontributes around £1 billion to the UK economy every year.

Central London has 1,140,000 square metres of retail floor space – more thanParis and Rome. About 20% of all of London’s hotel stock – over 30,000bedspaces – is located in or near the West End with a unique concentration of five star hotels.

The area is also home to a growing population of over 50,000 residents – a diverse community living alongside the tide of tourists and visitors, which adds continuity to the West End’s unique identity.

As the responsible authority for the West End, this document sets out howWestminster City Council is tackling the exciting challenge of strengthening and securing the area’s future as a world-class location.

This is a challenge we must tackle head-on, providing the right mix of imagination,drive and leadership, working with our partners to create a West End that works.We are uniquely placed to deliver this because of our record of delivery, based onour experience, commitment and authority.

Standing still is not an option – investment and proactive management of theWest End is essential to lead the renewal of its public spaces, making them safer,cleaner, easier to navigate and more pedestrian, family and female friendly.

To get the best for the West End will take time and determination. With the sharedcommitment of our partners, we can ensure that today’s recognition of the WestEnd is preserved and strengthened in the future.

Councillor Danny ChalkleyCabinet Member for Economic Development and TransportWestminster City Council



A call to actionThe council encourages anyone with an interest in the West End to joinus and help secure the area’s future.

Whether you are a resident, a business, amenity society, residentassociation, community group, voluntary organisation, service provideror public agency – here are five practical ways you can work with us:

1. Have your say: if you have views, we’re ready to listen. How can theWest End be made safer for residents, more family friendly and easier toget around? One way of having your say is to attend our West End areaforum. For more details visit www.westminster.gov.uk/westendareaforum

2. Be an active citizen: take a hands-on role in shaping your area. Inthe Edgware Road area, for example, the council aims to recruit 50 localresidents and traders to take part in a community engagement project.Acting as ambassadors, these volunteers will be talking to people intheir community to find out the local improvements they want to see.

3. Pool resources: are you a business or landowner willing to fundimprovements to help secure the West End’s future prosperity? Workalongside the council and we can make this go further, using ourexpertise as city managers to pool resources to have a greatercollective impact.

4. Improve your neighbourhood: you can make your part of the WestEnd cleaner and safer by reporting problems like dumped rubbish,graffiti and noisy neighbours through the council’s 24hr environmentaction line: 020 7641 2000. You can also join your local police SaferNeighbourhoods ward panel and give your thoughts on crime and anti-social behaviour and the main things you would like to see tackled.

5. Support your West End: support the West End’s economy bycontinuing to make it the place where you, your family and friends go toshop, eat, see a show and indulge in the many other cultural andleisure activities on offer.


6 Future West End: creating a world-class location

The challenge: managing a world-class cityThe West End…

• is home to more than 50,000 residents and employs 280,000 people• welcomes around 15 million tourists who account for around 20%

of the money spent in the West End every year• is the largest retail area in the UK attracting over 100 million

shopping visits every year• has a retail turnover nearly double that of Glasgow and

Birmingham, the next largest centres in the UK.

Keeping the West End safe, clean and attractive is a big job for thecouncil – working every hour, every day, throughout the year.

Every 10 days, as many people go out in the West End as visit Ibiza in awhole year, while 250,000 people pass through Leicester Square on adaily basis. Managing and maintaining the public realm is one of fivecritical issues in ensuring the West End offer is a world-class experiencefor residents, workers and visitors, which we have identified as:

1. Maintaining the public realm.

2. Continuing to improve the retail and entertainment offer to visitors.

3. Government investment in the infrastructure, particularly transport.

4. Protecting the residential communities in the heart of London.

5. Maintaining the historic appeal.

Only by tackling all these issues together, with vision, leadership andcommitment can the council and its partners unlock the future of theWest End.


Westminster as a catalyst for changeAchieving our ambition of a world-class West End fit for the future requiresthe energy, passion and drive of many people. Many voices speak for theWest End – organisations with their own priorities and ideas of how thearea should develop. They could drown each other out without clearleadership to coordinate and drive action.

As the responsible authority, Westminster City Council is uniquely placedto provide this civic leadership, acting as the catalyst to lead the renewalof London’s West End, working with partners. This is based on our record,experience and authority.

How are we doing this? The council is leading seven major initiatives toimprove the quality of the West End experience for all those who visit, liveand work there. These cover all the major areas of the West End: Oxford,Regent and Bond Streets, Soho, Theatreland, Chinatown, Covent Garden,Leicester Square and Edgware Road. The council has approved actionplans for the last four of these areas, drawn up in consultation with localcommunities and interested parties from the public and private sector.

The task now is to translate these aspirations into funded projects thatdeliver for the West End. Draft action plans are currently underdevelopment for Oxford, Regent and Bond Streets and Theatreland, whilethe council has now finished consulting on the draft Soho Action Plan.

The remainder of this document showcases examples of work from theseseven initiatives which are creating safer and cleaner streets, betterparking, lighting and public spaces. It also outlines our future plans.

Together, these amount to an ambitious programme of work that bothwe and our partners believe will make the West End the future world-class location we all want to see.


CITY OF WESTMINSTER


Ambition one: boostingbusiness and tourism“If we aspire for the West End to be seen as the

nation’s high street, we need to be seen as quality

street, not cheap street.”

This quote from Sir Simon Milton, Leader of Westminster City Council,made in a speech to the London Retail Summit (October 2006),encapsulates the council’s ambitions for a world-class West End at thecommercial heart of London. The area has earned its reputation asLondon’s premier visitor attraction because of the unrivalled range ofexperiences – theatre, food, shopping and film.

Our job now is to work with partners to ensure that in future, the WestEnd offers a high quality experience that is more pedestrian, femaleand family friendly. The West End must compete not only with otherretail and entertainment centres in London and the South East, but alsowithin a European and international context.



Where we are now…

Council policies that support retail The council’s planning policies strongly support retail development. This yearwe granted planning permission for a major new retail development in OxfordStreet at Sedley Place – now Boots’ flagship UK store. In October 2006, thecouncil granted permission for a mixed scheme that is made up of morethan 11,000 square metres at Park House, opposite Selfridges.

Enhancing Covent Garden The council and partners have consulted on plans to make physicalimprovements to Long Acre, running through the heart of Covent Garden.This takes forward work in the Covent Garden Action Plan, drawn up withlocal residents, businesses and landowners, that aims to create a safer andmore inviting environment. The first phase of work is looking at improvementsto Long Acre between St Martin’s Lane and Neal Street, including wideningand replacing pavements using quality materials, improving the pedestriancrossing facilities and better street lighting. The intention is to finalise thedesign plans early in 2007 ready for work to start on-site in March.

Increasing footfall and spendThe council created the West End Marketing Alliance to increase footfalland spend across the West End, from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square.Our fellow members include: Covent Garden Market, Heart of LondonBusiness Alliance, New West End Company, Shaftesbury PLC, Society ofLondon Theatre and Visit London. WEMA activity in 2006 has included thesuccessful family-focused West End Live event, which attracted 130,000visitors over a weekend to sample a free showcase of the entertainment,retail and leisure offer in the West End. WEMA has also funded aChristmas campaign to attract visitors to the West End, which includes a bespoke website, www.westendchristmas.com, with everything visitors



need to know about the West End. The council has offered a discountedparking offer over Christmas, that includes the council-managedMasterpark car parks in Chinatown, Soho and Leicester Square.

Safeguarding Savile Row In response to concerns raised on Savile Row about the future prospectsof the tailoring community, the council established the Savile RowStrategic Group to bring tailors and landlords together. Rising rents andbusiness rates along with the changing nature of the row have, in recentyears, posed a threat to the tailors’ livelihoods. The group has come upwith ideas to revitalise bespoke tailoring. One task will be to reviewWestminster's existing planning policy and guidance to help support thebespoke tailoring industry and safeguard Savile Row's unique character.

Coventry Street improvementsTransport for London and the Heart of London Business Alliance haveworked with the council on a scheme to improve the physicalappearance of Coventry Street – a major link between Leicester Squareand Piccadilly Circus. This close-to-completion scheme involveswidening and repaving the pavements using quality materials, bettercrossing facilities and a wall mounted lighting scheme to replace theold street based system. As part of a council trial, the paving slabs inCoventry Street have been treated with a special chemical that preventschewing gum and grime from sticking to them.

Local employmentThe council is committed to ensuring that local residents benefit from the employment opportunities created in the West End. TheWestminster City Partnership provides a free local recruitment servicefor local retailers and businesses through two job brokerage agencies –Paddington First and SW1st.



Looking ahead:

World-class retail streetsAn ambitious draft action plan for Oxford, Regent and Bond Streets(ORB) is being prepared with the core aim of improving these key retailstreets to make them truly world-class. It will combine a challengingcollection of aspirations led by the council and its key partners,Transport for London and the New West End Company. In 2007, subject to cabinet approval, the draft ORB Action Plan will go out toconsultation with the challenge of gaining agreement on the collectiveambitions from all key stakeholders.

Preserving the magic of TheatrelandTheatreland, located at the heart of the West End, is the greatestconcentration of theatres found anywhere in the world. The council isworking with partners, including the Society of London Theatre, on adraft Theatreland Action Plan to safeguard and promote the area intothe 21st century. This will involve tackling the challenges of ageingtheatre buildings, changing visitor expectations, improving the publicrealm and the impact of global events and the wider economic climateon visitor numbers.

Transforming Leicester SquareThe home of British entertainment needs a transformation that befits aworld-class place. The council is aiming to lead substantial physicalimprovements to the square, including repaving, lighting, the redesignof the gardens and the introduction of an open-air performance spacefor community events and premieres.



Ambition two: better quality of life for residents

Where we are now…

Refurbishment of Marshall Street Baths Marshall Street Baths – in the heart of Soho – now has a bright futureunder a contract signed by the council with a consortium, MarshallStreet Regeneration. The baths were closed in 1997 due to health,safety and maintenance problems. The Soho community will receive ahigh quality refurbished and upgraded leisure centre includingrestoration of the main 1930s marble lined pool and modern facilities,including a gym, exercise studios, health suite and treatment rooms.The centre is on schedule to open to the public by the first half of 2009.

A safer West End The council’s CivicWatch programme operates in the West End, Chinatownand Soho. Put simply, CivicWatch is the community, the council, localagencies and the Metropolitan Police working together by making it easierto report crime and to see what’s done to address it. We recently surveyedcommunities in the CivicWatch areas to find out peoples’ concerns. In theWest End and Chinatown, the top two concerns are the threat of robberyand drunken behaviour. Most people (86%) told us they feel safe living inthe area. Again in Soho, most people (76%) feel safe living there, while thetop two concerns are the threat of being mugged and people using orselling drugs. We will continue to work with the police and other partners toaddress these issues.



Wi-Fi across the West EndBT have announced that they intend to install a Wi-Fi network in a squaremile across Soho and the West End by mid-2007. Residents andbusinesses will be able to securely access the local network and pay forservices and access information online, and tourists and visitors will also beable to access this same site for information about local destinations. Aspart of its Wireless City project with its strategic partner, Vertex, the councilwill be using part of the network to expand its use of wirelessly connectedCCTV cameras. These have been piloted in part of Soho to deter anti-social behaviour and alert council and emergency services to potentialproblems.

Community engagement in Edgware Road At the heart of plans for the Edgware Road area is the Ambassadors’Project led by a group of local residents and businesses who will helpto identify local needs and priorities that should be integrated into theEdgware Road Action Plan. We are also working closely with Transportfor London to implement much needed streetscape improvements tothe Edgware Road, and initiating discussions with businessesinterested in setting up a Business Improvement District.

Looking ahead:

An action plan for Soho Once approved, the Soho Action Plan will aim to deliver over 80initiatives, including the regeneration of Berwick Street, Ham Yard andGreat Windmill Street. The projects aim to address resident concerns,improve community facilities and support small independentbusinesses and the creative industries in the area.



Ambition three: building on our cultural heritage

Where we are now…

Regeneration of Chinatown The Chinatown Action Plan continues to set the vision for regeneratingthe area in partnership with the local community, the Metropolitan Policeand the major landlord, Shaftesbury PLC. The action plan reflects thecouncil’s commitment to working with local partners to implement trafficand environmental improvements in the area. This year, Gerrard Streethas been repaved between Wardour Street and Macclesfield Street andnew street lighting installed in the area. Streetscape improvements toMacclesfield Street will be finished by the end of January 2007 andworks in Lisle Street will start after the Chinese New Year. The firsttraditional Chinese Gate is being planned in the West End to recognisethe importance of Chinatown and London’s historic links with China.

Looking ahead:

2012 Olympic and Paralympic GamesWhile the hub of the Games will be in east London, at the new OlympicPark, Westminster will also be a major national and international focus, as visitors and the world’s media descend on the capital in search ofleisure and entertainment, cultural activities and accommodation. ForWestminster to match the ambitions of the London 2012 project, its publicrealm, including its squares and parks, will need to be of gold standard.To achieve this gold standard it is estimated that between £100-150 millionworth of transport and public realm improvements will be required inWestminster and its neighbouring central London boroughs.




The futureWestminster is committed to delivering a world-class West End of the future– with clean, safe, pedestrian friendly public spaces, effective transportsystems and a shopping and leisure offer that is second to none.

Ensuring the West End receives the investment, renewal and carefullymanaged change it deserves must be a priority for everyone and we lookforward to working with our existing and new partners – from internationalbusiness to individual residents – to find solutions that work.

For more information about the council’s work in the West End and howyou can work with us, contact:

Neil HallHead of West End and Area RenewalWest End teamWestminster City Council11th Floor North, City Hall64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP

Tel: 020 7641 3209Email: [email protected]: www.westminster.gov.uk/westend


Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP Main Switchboard 020 7641 6000 www.westminster.gov.uk/westend

future west end: creating a world-class location...future west end: creating a world-class location...

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