- Greg Hands MP & Tony Devenish AM call for Hammersmith Bridge to be taken over by Transport for London.
- After five years, it is clear that the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has no genuine desire to reopen the Bridge.
- The body best placed to make it happen is TfL, which also seems to have found new reserves of cash, and Greg is urging the Mayor of London to intervene and to take charge and take the Bridge off of LBHF and move rapidly and safely to reopening it.
As London approaches, in April, the 5 year anniversary of the closure of Hammersmith Bridge to buses, cars and emergency vehicles, Chelsea & Fulham MP and London Assembly Member Tony Devenish are calling for the farce to end and for ownership of the Bridge to be formally transferred from the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (LBHF) to Transport for London (TfL).
After five years, it is clear that H&F Council has no genuine desire to reopen the Bridge. Too little activity has taken place in terms of either restoration or repair. Meanwhile, H&F Council’s estimates of the costs for a restoration have spiralled upwards. The Hammersmith end of the Bridge is in the Council Leader’s ward, and, whilst the closure is deeply unpopular elsewhere in the Borough (particularly in Fulham, where the traffic diverts to cross Putney Bridge), it can be popular in parts of Hammersmith, due to the same displacement of traffic.
When Labour took office in the Borough in 2014, it concluded that the Bridge was in good condition. “It remains the case that there are no issues around the structural integrity of Hammersmith Bridge” (Sep 2016, Cllr Wesley Harcourt) and was even considering adding double-decker buses onto the Bridge.
The Government has been willing to assist the Council to reopen the Bridge, and in providing money to assist in feasibility studies.
Nonetheless, LBHF appears unwilling to make any progress. The last time the Bridge was closed for a significant period in 1997-98, this was for less than a year.
Meanwhile, TfL is currently in much better financial shape than it has been since before the Pandemic, thanks to Government support packages totalling £6.6bn. TfL has in recent times covered around 85% of repair works on London bridges owned by Borough councils.
One option might be for the A306, which runs over the Bridge, to be reviewed and become a red route, noting that five London bus routes used the Bridge before 2019. TfL is responsible for red routes.
If such a transfer were to take place, both LBHF and the Government could remain committed to the sums they have already pledged to its repair.
Commenting, Greg Hands MP said:
“The Hammersmith Bridge farce needs to end. After five years, it’s obvious that the Leader of the Council doesn’t want the Bridge re-opened to buses, cars and emergency vehicles.
The body best placed to make it happen is TfL, which also seems to have found new reserves of cash, and I am urging Mayor Khan to intervene and to take charge and take the Bridge off of LBHF and move rapidly and safely to reopening it.”
Commenting, Tony Devenish AM said:
“I warned Sadiq Khan, TfL and LBHF in Mayor of London Questions several times, in years leading up to the bridge closure, that unless you maintain an infrastructure asset, like a bridge, as neighbouring Boroughs do, you will have real problems.
This has been a 5 year slow motion (no pun intended) car crash.”
ENDS
