• IT’S really distressing news to hear that Westminster City Council have approved the opening of the road at the west side of Grosvenor Square.

This space has been closed to vehicles for over a decade now and the reopening is just going to create a huge traffic roundabout around the square and take away valuable safe space for pedestrians and cyclists.

The current crisis has brought added emphasis to how important it is to provide better areas for walking and cycling.

The council has ambitious plans right next door to Grosvenor Square in the Oxford Street district to make motor traffic less dominant.

What sense is there in closing a street there and then reopening a road right next door? If the current coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything it is that we cannot go on living our lives dependent on vehicle use.

Opening streets to more traffic in the heart of the West End is backwards and short­sighted. Please, Westminster Council, think again otherwise your reputation will be severely damaged.

PETER HARTLEY
Westminster Living Streets

ANDY BEVERLY
Westminster Healthy Streets