London Bank junction to be transformed for cyclists, buses and pedestrians

City of London planners have produced bold proposals for improving the "dysfunctional, dangerous and dirty" heart of the historic financial district

The City of London Corporation, local authority of the Square Mile, is to close off the whole of the famous yet famously inhospitable Bank junction to all motor vehicles except buses, starting late next year. Chairman of Planning and Transportation Michael Welbank describes this complex of Mammon's crossroads as "dysfunctional, dangerous, dirty, congested and polluting" and "completely inappropriate to form the heart of a modern city." If it works, the plan could set a standard for the rest of London to follow.

Stopping cars, lorries, motorcycles and taxis using the six roads that connect to the junction will be an interim measure pending a long term redesign solution to the problems Welbank lists. That may or may not involve re-opening in five years' time some of the mesh of narrow roads that converge on the Royal Exchange, Mansion House and the Threadneedle Street dame to the full range of vehicles that pass through them now. But the headline objectives are clearly stated: to improve the safety, efficiency and all round congeniality of the place.