First round to pedestrians in fight for historic squares

Plans to pedestrianise parts of Trafalgar and Parliament Squares move closer today with the announcement that a feasibility study is to receive funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Consultants are to be appointed next month to look at a variety of options for the area, all of which are based on the premise that more space will be given over to pedestrians and traffic will be restrained.

Previous plans to pedestrianise the squares have been rejected by Westminster Council, but now government ministers are pushing hard to see a change in the environment around London's key tourist areas, which is frequently criticised by foreign visitors.

John Gummer, the environment secretary, has been holding a series of meetings with a group of organisations including Westminster Council, English Heritage, the Royal Parks and London Transport, as well as other government departments, and they have all agreed to contribute towards the cost of the report.

Lottery funding will provide half the cost of the pounds 250,000 consultants' report which will be called World Squares For All and will take a year to carry out. Six consultants are making presentations to the council on 12 November and the successful consultant will then draw up a series of options for public consultation next summer.

The consultancies being considered for the job include a group headed by Sir Richard Rogers whose scheme for the National Gallery extension, which included pedestrianising part of Trafalgar Square, was rejected a decade ago.

Mr Gummer, who has been the main force behind the scheme, said: "It's time we gave these two great squares back to the people - they've been dominated by the car for too long."

The most likely schemes are to pedestrianise the north side of Trafalgar Square, next to the National Gallery, which would create a continuous pedestrian zone between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square, and to pedestrianise the south side of Parliament Square, next to the Palace of Westminster.

The study will also investigate how to speed up bus journey times in the area and improve pedestrian access around Westminster and Charing Cross stations, as well as the new Hungerford footbridge.

Other road closures may be considered - Westminster is already narrowing the Strand to reduce the amount of traffic in the area and is giving more space to pedestrians.

Malcolm Haxby, associate director of planning at Westminster Council said: "In the past, the schemes have foundered on the problems of worries about increased traffic jams.

"Now we are looking at it the other way round. We're going to say, here's a good scheme, let's implement it, and then sort out what to do with the cars."

He added that with "all these important players involved", this time it will happen.

Sir Jocelyn Stevens, chairman of English Heritage, said: "Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church are designated a World Heritage site, but the space between them is almost permanently occupied by cars.

"I welcome the master plan in the hope that it will provide for people to enjoy the historic centre of our capital city."