Hammersmith Bridge 'could stay closed until 2035'
Hammersmith Bridge could stay closed to vehicles for another decade, a Labour MP has warned.
The 138-year-old bridge linking Hammersmith with Barnes, in south-west London, closed to motor vehicles when cracks appeared in its pedestals in 2019.
Putney MP Fleur Anderson said it was not realistic to expect the bridge to be reopened by the end of the current Parliament as "even if they started [now] it would be 10 years of building".
She claimed that due to the failure of the Conservative government to "get on with" repairing the bridge in the five years since its closure, it may take until 2035 for it to fully reopen. The Conservative party has been contacted for a response.
The cost of fully repairing and reopening the bridge has risen sharply in the years since it closed, and was estimated last year at £250m.
Ms Anderson said her "main concern" was the impact that the bridge's closure was having on bus services in her constituency, and said it also made the area's road network less resilient when other forms of disruption arose, such as utility repairs.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "[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 continued.
Asked whether it was realistic to expect the bridge to be reopened by the end of 2029, Ms Anderson said: "No, disappointingly. I think even if they started [now] it would be 10 years of building. So we're talking a long time away."
During the 2019 general election campaign, then-Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, visited the bridge and pledged the Conservative government would "not allow this just to remain closed".
Mr Shapps assembled a taskforce in 2020 but that body held its last meeting in November 2021.
However the taskforce is now due to be reconvened on 30 January, 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 £13m 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."
Ms Anderson has urged her constituents to write to the DfT ahead of the taskforce meeting about the impact of the closure.
She is also holding a meeting on Saturday to update residents and hear directly from them on the issue.
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith, agreed "restarting the dialogue" on 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".
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."
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