We have instructed the team to do that. It will open this weekend. July Hammersmith Bridge to reopen to pedestrians and cyclists 15 July As of 23 June , no response had yet been received from the department. Each party would agree to pay a share of the cost. This work is ongoing. The Taskforce was informed that no borough council has ever paid 33 per cent of repair works for any London bridges.
Historically, TfL has paid 85 per cent for repair works on London bridges owned by borough councils. On safety grounds. On 13 August new sensors positioned throughout the bridge alerted engineers to a rapid and sudden increase in the size of dangerous micro-fractures in the cast iron pedestals that hold the 19th century suspension structure in place. Cast iron is brittle and can shatter and the expansion of the micro-fractures posed the serious risk that the bridge could suddenly and with little warning collapse, so on urgent safety grounds it had to be closed to all users, including river traffic.
The engineers discovered that the microfractures are a consequence of decades of unchecked corrosion that is riddled throughout the suspension structure.
The current administration commissioned a Comprehensive Structural Integrity Review CSIR of the bridge in , the first in its history, with the objective of understanding if the bridge was structurally sound. As part of the review, the council hired a team of world class specialist engineers, started weekly safety inspections and installed hi-tech sensors all over the bridge to check if stresses were causing structural damage.
These investigations revealed the extent of structural problems with the bridge — its natural and necessary flexibility had become compromised, causing critical fractures in the pedestals that anchor the bridge into the ground. Specialist engineers have put together comprehensive plans to fix the year-old bridge. The bridge can be fixed, the plans are ready and work could start immediately. Securing the necessary funds to pay for this major infrastructure project is less straight forward.
No council has that kind of money available, even before the multi-million pounds cost of the coronavirus pandemic. Hammersmith Bridge is a strategically important river crossing and a main London transport artery. TfL has made a series of bids to government for the funding of the Hammersmith Bridge works which have all been rejected.
Only the government and the private sector has the sort of sums needed. The taskforce is exploring funding options. The reserves are critical to ensuring that the council is in a position at all times to maintain its hundreds of statutory duties and services to residents including protecting children at risk of abuse, providing care to the elderly and disabled, maintaining roads and parks, collecting refuse, tackling homelessness and keeping libraries open.
Our reserves are below average among London councils. This is agreed each year as part of the budget strategy. We have a duty to residents to keep the council on a firm financial footing. This includes short-term, low-risk lending which generates funds to re-invest in frontline services. Our financial efficiency has allowed us to keep council tax low while improving services for residents. This story, based on an aggregate of loans without taking into account their return, was false and has since been corrected.
The total sum available for the council to invest includes not just reserves but other cash balances such as capital receipts and specific grant balances. This was money held by the council that could not be spent on other areas until the estates were fully handed over to the developers.
Ultimately, the money was used to buy back the estates following the successful campaign to protect the homes of residents from speculators. Read updates from the taskforce on this page. Cllr Cowan has asked the taskforce to make an early commitment on funding, which is crucial to progressing repair and mitigation work.
Several parties have already expressed interest in running a service. This proposal has been discarded by Transport for London engineers on the grounds of cost, timescale and feasibility. The required permission for a temporary bridge from the Port of London Authority is also contingent on all the funding for the complete repair of the bridge being already in place before work on a temporary bridge could start.
Without the financing in place for the permanent repair, the option of any kind of temporary bridge is not available. These plans are currently being considered by the Taskforce. The bridge is protected by Historic England. It is a Grade II Listed heritage asset meaning it is a 'particularly important' national structure of 'more than special interest'.
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