The Financial Time reports that plans will be put before the corporation’s planning committee on Thursday for approval, documents outline that : “On many of the Square Mile’s streets, pavements are too narrow to maintain safe social distancing, even if only a small proportion of the City’s workforce initially returns to work. In some streets it is likely that existing arrangements will be a danger to the public.”
Catherine McGuinness, policy chief for the Corporation of London, said this was a “pivotal moment” in dealing with the pandemic. “Getting to the workplace safely is going to be key.” This would be a “first step in a radical strategy” that would see the City move away from private car use. “Coronavirus has given us an extra impetus.” The plans say that “in order to maintain social distancing and manage travel demand, there will be a medium-term need/desire to limit the number of people working in offices on any given day”. “Even a small increase in the number of people using cars, taxis and private hire vehicles to commute is likely to lead to an unacceptable level of congestion on central London’s street network,” the plans add.
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