Foster heads capital project

The architect Sir Norman Foster yesterday won a competition to produce plans to make the tourist centre of London more "consumer-friendly". With a team of consultants, he will spend a year talking to everyone from tourists to taxi drivers who use some of the best-known parts of the capital.

He will submit suggestions for improving pedestrian and public transport access in and around Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square, Whitehall and Westminster Abbey. Half of the pounds 250,000 project has been paid for by lottery money. It was commissioned by Westminster City Council, in conjunction with the Department of National Heritage.