Hughes: pedestrianise Oxford Street

Simon Hughes today launched his mayoral manifesto with a bold bid to pedestrianise Oxford Street.

The Liberal Democrat candidate also pledged major changes to the congestion charge in moves aimed at breathing new life into the centre of London.

All London drivers would get free passes into the congestion charge zone five days a year. And the period covered by the charge would end at 5pm on weekdays, not 6.30pm as at present, encouraging people to theatres and restaurants.

Mr Hughes promises he would not proceed

with Ken Livingstone's plan to extend the scheme westwards into Kensington & Chelsea, and would give drivers an extra day to pay the charge before being fined. Much of his manifesto - published in newspaper format and called For A London United - concerns transport.

He would run late Tubes until 2am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and would "assess" fare cuts for early-morning passengers.

His plans could see Oxford Street fully pedestrianised by 2008. He insists retailers are broadly behind the scheme, aimed at wooing shoppers back from out-of-town centres.

Every neighbourhood of between 5,000 and 10,000 residents would get its own "community police force" by 2006.

He would try to boost London's civil defence budget to improve protection from terrorist attack, an improved flow of information to the public about what to do in the event of an attack, anda London Emergency Volunteer Reserve Force. Because the Madrid bombs were set off using mobile phones, Mr Hughes would halt talks on installing mobile networks on deep sections of the Tube.

He aims to provide an extra 10,000 affordable homes on "unused urban space," and would bring in a "one-number" contact system with information on all services provided by the Greater London Authority. Launching his campaign, Mr Hughes attacked both his main rivals for the job, Mr Livingstone and Tory Steve Norris.

He said: "Blair's Mayor has divided communities, divided boroughs and divided London. Mr Livingstone has been blind to the divides he and his government have created between rich and poor and inner and outer parts of London. Londoners don't want a Mayor who is in the pocket of the unions or Tony Blair, and they don't want a Mayor who is in the pockets of big business or Jarvis."