New Mayoral Development Corporation to deliver Oxford Street transformation

The Mayor of London has announced he is pressing ahead with plans to create a “Mayoral Development Corporation” (MDC) along Oxford Street, to take forward his transformation plans to regenerate this area of London, following a public consultation exercise in May 2025, which also considered the principle of pedestrianising Oxford Street. 

What is a Mayoral Development Corporation?

Under powers in the Localism Act 2011 the Mayor can set up an MDC that operates over a defined area to secure its regeneration.   MDCs can also be granted specific powers such as taking on planning duties from the local authority (Westminster City Council), including to prepare a Local Plan and make decisions on individual planning applications, powers to make compulsory purchases of land or assets, as well as powers to grant discretionary relief from business rates. 

This will be the first development corporation in London set up in a location and for a purpose of this sort. The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC – to regenerate the Old Oak Opportunity Area) and London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC – to handle post-Olympic regeneration) have a more traditional regeneration purpose.  The Mayor’s proposal for an Oxford Street MDC is to support “transformative plans to regenerate Oxford Street” which is centred on the pedestrianisation of a significant part of Oxford Street.  

While the details of the MDC are to be determined, including extent of powers and the boundary for the MDC itself, the initial boundary drawn for the consultation was essentially one block back to the north and south.  We expect this will be refined.  We can expect the Mayor to seek planning powers, and possibly powers of compulsory acquisition, for the MDC.  However, the MDC cannot become the highway authority albeit the Mayor could decide to extend Transport for London’s strategic road network (SRN).

What this means for those with land interests in Oxford Street

• More ambitious design?  In theory, once established the MDC as local planning authority should be more welcoming of more interesting and vibrant design intent for development in or around Oxford Street.  
• Disruption: a period of practical disruption can be expected as the pedestrianisation works are carried out. How these works and the MDC more generally are to be funded is a critical detail to be confirmed and, in particular, the degree to which that will fall on local business and landowner/developers.  Initial proposals appear to indicate the MDC intends to take the vast majority, if not the entirety, of CIL receipts.
• Interaction between WCC and the MDC:  The planning interaction between WCC and the MDC, and how that affects the consenting and delivery of schemes, is not yet known. Schemes that traverse whatever will be the MDC boundary will need to take particular care in the planning process.
• Faster planning? It will be interesting to see if a further split of functions between WCC and the MDC improves the speed and reliability of the planning process and how resources will be allocated.  
• Transition:  Depending on the scheme, it may be desirable (and certainly a temptation) to push through development proposals now to avoid the administrative transition.