The Council will publish an Implementation Plan alongside the final strategy later in 2025, outlining clear actions and commitments for its delivery.

• Foundation Phase (2025-2030) – establishing initial frameworks, partnerships, and pilot programmes.
• Expansion Phase (2030-2035) – scaling up successful initiatives from the Foundation Phase.
• Maturity Phase (2035-2040) – integrating further sustainability, cultural engagement, and economic resilience.

In the first five-year period the Council proposes a series of actions to shape an inclusive, dynamic and well-managed evening and night-time environment.

Safe and Secure

• Building upon the Safer Westminster Partnership strategy (2024-27), extending its focus into the evening and night-time environment.
• Promoting a safer, more inclusive evening and night-time environment that addresses women’s specific safety concerns, combats violence against women and girls (VAWG).
• Creating a “Unified Licensing Policy Framework” to integrate all licensing regimes into a streamlined, co-ordinated policy.
• Minimising noise impacts, within powers, on residents in areas with significant late-night and early-morning activity by implementing proactive noise management strategies.
• Establishing rigorous standards for safety, crime prevention, and community respect across Westminster’s evening and night-time environment, including on residential streets and in housing estates.
• Fostering a safer and more secure evening and night-time environment in residential neighbourhoods and estates by working to reduce anti-social behaviour, drug-related incidents, burglaries, knife crime, and low-level violence through targeted enforcement, community engagement, and strategic environmental design enhancements.
• Securing new funding sources to strengthen enforcement and policing in high-crime areas. This might include introducing a late-night levy to fund targeted initiatives aimed at reducing crime and disorder. The Council will consult on this separately and have not currently specified what areas it might cover and which businesses might be in scope.

Accessible and Positive

• Championing accessibility, safety, and comfort by addressing the diverse needs of residents, workers, and visitors
• Enhancing public spaces to be accessible, well-designed, and enjoyable for all during the evening and night-time, by improving publicamenities, fostering creative placemaking, and prioritising safety.
• Promoting accessibility, equity, and inclusivity across Westminster’s evening and night-time economy by implementing proactive measures to reduce hate, racism, and other forms of discriminatory behaviour.
• Encouraging active recreation and participation in health-related activities within Westminster’s evening and night-time environment safe, and engaging opportunities for fitness, sports, and wellness activities, such as outdoor exercise classes, guided walks, cycling events, and wellness pop-ups.
• By fostering an environment that promotes healthy and active lifestyles, Westminster aims to enhance quality of life through more dynamic setting for sport and active recreation during the evening and night-time.
• Developing diverse recreational and cultural activities, diversifying away from traditional night-life options that rely on the sale of alcohol, that reflect the needs of the communities in which they are situated, and that are socially, culturally, and financially inclusive for residents, families, and visitors alike.
• Advocating for enhanced and expanded public transport options during night-time hours to ensure safe and convenient movement across the city.
• Enhancing digital connectivity across Westminster’s evening and night-time environment by expanding and strengthening the city’s digital infrastructure to improve connectivity, enhance visitor experience, and support business innovation.

Communities and Culture

• Making Westminster’s vibrant cultural heritage and arts scene more accessible and affordable for residents, with a focus on young people, low-income households, and underrepresented groups.
• Identifying diverse and sustainable funding framework that secure long-term investment in Westminster’s evening and night-time cultural activities.
• Prioritising the protection of Westminster’s LGBTQ+ venues, celebrating their cultural significance and ensuring they continue to be safe, inclusive spaces.
• Strengthening crisis response and prevention efforts to reduce rough sleeping in Westminster’s evening and night-time environment.
• Expanding accessible, family-friendly, and non-alcoholic evening activities to foster a vibrant, inclusive evening and night-time environment.

Economic Development and Opportunities

• Supporting the vital contributions of night-workers in Westminster, especially residents, by advocating for fair compensation, improved access to health and wellbeing services, and improved infrastructure after dark.
• Ensuring that licensing and planning processes are closely aligned and mutually supportive, while recognising that licensing and planning decisions must be taken solely within their respective regulatory and policy frameworks.
• Creating accessible pathways for residents to gain valuable skills and qualifications that support the hospitality and creative sectors.
• Fostering a collaborative and unified approach among BIDs, local businesses, cultural institutions and regulatory bodies.
• Enabling a vibrant, inclusive evening and night-time economy in Central Westminster that expands beyond traditional alcohol-led venues, supporting diverse offerings that appeal to a wide range of visitors, residents, and workers.

Subject to the outcome of public consultation, seeking to establish Late-Night Entertainment Zones (LNEZ) in the following areas:

• Oxford Street (between Regent Street and Tottenham Court Road/Charing Cross Road)
• The Strand (between Villiers Street and Savoy Street)
• Victoria Street (North) (from Buckingham Gate to Buckingham Palace Road, including the Nova and Cardinal Place developments and Terminus Place).

Environmental Sustainability and Biodiversity

• Ensuring actions promote cleaner air, minimise environmental impact, and enhance biodiversity.
• Supporting the implementation of energy-efficient lighting where appropriate, promoting green infrastructure (where permitted under the planning system), and encouraging or enforcing eco-friendly operational practices across the evening night-time sector.
• Reducing waste generation and promoting sustainable practices.
• Encouraging sustainable transport choices among Westminster’s evening and night-time visitors, residents, and workers, by encouraging greater use of public transport, cycling, and other low-emission travel options.

The consultation is open from Tuesday 11 March 2025 to Sunday 22 June 2025.

You can download the strategy and supporting documents here.

You can give your feedback here.