West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Published: 5 December 2008
West End VIP Day will provide traffic-free Christmas shopping
• SHOPPING local helps the economy and supports local jobs.
West End VIP Day, tomorrow, Saturday December 6, will see Oxford Street closed to traffic, and will give us all a particularly good excuse not to leave those Christmas presents until the last minute.
We’re investing heavily in all our high streets and makeovers have already been carried out or are in progress across most parts of the city.
The West End which is officially Europe’s favourite place to shop with an annual retail spend of £5.3billion.
The importance of it to Westminster and many of our 47,000 businesses which entertain, feed, and refresh the 200 million visitors who we welcome, cannot be underestimated.
And we want to offer as much support as we can to our residents and businesses. As part of our Economic Recovery Plan we are working on an extra traffic-free day for the West End next year, loans for residents struggling with mortgages, and a recommended freeze on council tax for 2009-2010. Other key measures include paying invoices from smaller businesses within seven to 10 days and revamping more shopping centres in some more deprived areas.
For some festive cheer, and a chance to win a £5,000 Selfridges spree, along with a night in the famous Langham Hotel, tickets to see Oliver at the Theatre Royal and other goodies, register on the website below and vote for your favourite Christmas lights.
I look forward to seeing readers this Saturday in a traffic-free Oxford Street, and I’d like to thank local residents and businesses for helping to make this happen. For your chance to win visit www.westendlondon.com Cllr Danny Chalkley
Cabinet member for environment and transport
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