Hammersmith and Fulham Council is seeking a share of a £1 billion government fund to help carry out £128 million in essential repairs on Hammersmith Bridge, focusing on keeping the structure open for pedestrians, cyclists, and river traffic. The Cabinet decision comes after the council acknowledged it cannot afford the estimated £300 million needed to fully restore the bridge for motor traffic.
Council leader admits financial constraints
Councillor Stephen Cowan, Leader of the Council, told the Cabinet on Monday that the council could not bear the full cost alone. “We have to be honest with the residents, and after a lot of consultation with the residents in Hammersmith and Fulham, we have understood that it is important that we tell them where we’re actually at,” he said. “And so, this paper sets that out very clearly. And if it was a magic money tree, we could fix it. But we don’t live in something for nothing society.”
Hopes for government backing to fully restore the bridge for all traffic were recently dashed, largely due to a requirement for all repairs to be completed by April 2030. The council had hoped to secure the full £300 million sum from the Government’s £1 billion Structures Fund, with a Minister previously saying the crossing would be a “good candidate.” However, the Government has recommended the council submit a bid for a “phased repair” to keep the bridge open for pedestrians, cyclists, and river users. This is partly because the Structures Fund criteria states that the latest date for programmes to reach completion is March 31, 2030, which precludes the bridge’s expected full restoration.
Pre-application submitted for £128m works
A pre-application for works costing £128 million had already been submitted by the council. This amount will change depending on the final bid submission and, most importantly, the Department for Transport’s (DfT) funding decision. The 139-year-old Hammersmith Bridge, one of the world’s largest suspension bridges connecting West and South West London, was closed in 2019 after micro-fractures were discovered in its pedestals. The crossing reopened to pedestrians, cyclists, and river traffic in July 2021, with the council spending around £54 million on maintaining the structure.
Funding for the repairs has been a bone of contention between Transport for London (TfL), the DfT, and the council. Under a 2021 agreement, the Government and TfL agreed that each of the parties would pay one third of the repairs. The council’s position is that it is still owed money, based on the one-third principle – from TfL and DfT towards the £54 million that has been spent on the restoration project.
Criticism from Richmond Council and opposition
The decision to focus only on critical repairs to keep the bridge open to pedestrians, cyclists, and river traffic was not received well by everyone. Deputy Leader of Richmond Council, Councillor Alexander Ehmann, said that the decision felt like a “retreat from ambition.” He told Hammersmith and Fulham Cabinet: “Walking and cycling matters, there’s no doubt about that, but it cannot be the limit of ambition for such a key crossing. The proposal before you accepts the loss, at least in the near term, of public transport across the bridge. It accepts that older and disabled residents, and those without access to cars, will face longer, harder journeys. If we accept that buses will never return, we’re not just making an engineering decision, or indeed a bid decision. We’re making a social choice about who benefits and who is left behind. Now, if government funding is exhausted, and as I said earlier, I do not accept that it necessarily is, where is the plan B?”
When questioned by the Cabinet, Councillor Ehmann confirmed that Richmond Council would not be making any financial contribution to getting the bridge open to motor traffic. Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform, Councillor Rowan Ree, asked: “Why is it, you think, that only people living in Hammersmith and Fulham should have to pay the cost for the Liberal Democrats in Richmond crossing the bridge?”
Councillor Ehmann was not the only politician to put Labour in the hot seat over the decision. Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Jose Afonso, asked the Cabinet why they could not get the bridge fully opened considering Labour was running the Government, Mayoralty, and the Council. He told the Cabinet members: “You’re trying to blame everyone else. You’ve done it this evening. You’ve blamed the chap from Richmond. You’ve blamed everyone else, that they didn’t contribute money. But the reality is the ownership of this failure is on you.”
Outstanding contributions and next steps
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has received contributions of £15.96 million from the DfT and TfL, excluding sums spent by TfL before the stabilisation works commenced. Based on the current forecast, the Council is therefore due a further £22.9 million from primarily TfL and DfT. The Council is requesting that these previously agreed contributions be paid in full. Officers remain in discussion with the DfT and TfL about how their share of costs is to be recovered by the Council.
