Hammersmith Bridge could stay closed to vehicles for another decade, a local Labour MP has warned.
Putney MP Fleur Anderson said that due to the last Tory Government’s failure to “get on with” repairing the bridge in the five years following its closure, Londoners may have to wait until 2035 for it to fully reopen.
The 138-year-old bridge, which links Hammersmith with Barnes, has been closed to motor vehicles since cracks appeared in its pedestals in 2019.
The cost of fully repairing and reopening it has risen sharply in the years since it closed, and was estimated last year at £250m.
Asked whether it was realistic to expect the bridge to be reopened by the end of the current parliamentary term in 2029, Ms Anderson said: “No, disappointingly. I think even if they started [now] it would be ten years of building. So we’re talking a long time away.
“[For] six years nearly, it’s been closed. If they [the last Government] had started, and they’d got on with it six years ago, we could have done it, but everything seems to have slowed down.
“Steel is less available because of the war in Ukraine. There are variables we couldn’t even have imagined six years ago that have come in, so the longer it’s left the harder it seems to get.”
She added: “I think 2035 is probably a realistic estimation. I wouldn’t go beyond that - I wouldn’t say it’s 'at least’ 2035. But it’s not going to happen within the next two or three years, for sure.”
During the 2019 general election campaign, the then-Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, visited the bridge and pledged: “The next Conservative Government will not allow this just to remain closed. We will get the parties together - that means the mayor, the local authorities, and yes, do our bit as the Government as well - to make sure that this gets reopened.”
Deja vu! You were right to look sceptical........ https://t.co/PYpDjWZqa8 pic.twitter.com/VDoNRk0QtH
— Sarah Olney (@sarahjolney1) March 20, 2024
In 2020, Mr Shapps assembled a ‘Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce’, but that body held its last meeting in November 2021. The taskforce is now due to be reconvened on Thursday, January 30, chaired by Labour’s minister for local transport, Simon Lightwood.
A spokeswoman at the Department for Transport (DfT) said: “We continue to work closely with the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Transport for London on the bridge and the Department has already provided £13 million of funding towards the project to date.
“The Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce will provide a valuable forum for stakeholders to discuss the progress of the repair works and potential next steps, as well as the impact on local traffic.”
The £13m of funding provided by the DfT so far includes £4m invested in “emergency exploratory works” following the full closure of the bridge; £2.93m for initial stabilisation works in May 2022; £2.5m for geo-technical works in March 2023; and £2.9m for the temporary resurfacing of the bridge’s carriageway in March 2024.
But progress in agreeing a funding solution to actually get the bridge reopened has been slow. Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which owns the bridge, said that a business case it submitted to the DfT in December 2022 never received approval from the Department, and it was dropped from the agenda at meetings held in 2023 and 2024.
Ms Anderson said her “main concern” was the impact that the bridge’s closure was having on bus services in her constituency, and that it had also made the area’s road network less resilient when other forms of disruption arise, such as utility repairs.
The MP is urging her constituents to write to the DfT ahead of the taskforce meeting, making clear that the impact of the closure is still being felt in the local area on a daily basis. She is also holding a meeting this Saturday to update residents and hear directly from them on the issue.
Neighbouring MPs said that they welcomed the taskforce reconvening. Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, said: “The failure to commit to repairing Hammersmith Bridge is a stain on the former Conservative Government’s legacy.
“The business case for the repairs sat on the minister’s desk for over a year without any action being taken. I am hopeful that the reconvening of the taskforce is an indication that the Labour Government is ready to step up and commit the Government’s share of the funding towards repairing Hammersmith Bridge.”
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith, agreed that “restarting the dialogue” into getting the bridge back open “is a positive step”, after the last Government “refused to engage”. He added that the “only unresolved issue with the bridge is who is willing or able to pay how much for the repair”.
