Petrol and diesel cars will be banned from Barbican Estate’s Beech Street as it becomes Britain’s first zero-emission street, the City of London Corporation (CLC) said.

The city is working with Transport for London on plans for the street to just be used by zero-emission vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians by spring 2020.

The measure will be achieved with an 18-month experimental traffic order, CLC said in a statement, which will allow air quality and traffic to be monitored.

Emergency vehicles, refuse collection and deliveries will be excepted from the order.

CLC Environment committee chair Jeremy Simons said: “Drastically reducing air pollution requires radical actions, and these plans will help us eliminate toxic air on our streets.”

Petrol and diesel cars will be rerouted using advance warnings and signage on approach to Beech St.