Hammersmith Bridge Closed Indefinitely

Local residents are furious as Hammersmith Bridge has been closed by our Council "indefinitely".

This is the latest development in a long-running and sorry saga of delay and neglect, in which our local Council has continuously kicked the long-postponed repairs into the long grass.

Back in October we reported - to a furious response from LBHF - that the price tag for repairs had risen to £36m from the 2014 estimate of £25m.

The cost of delay

Hammersmith Bridge

Delaying repairs has cost taxpayers £11million. And that doesn't include the long-running cost of paying bridge attendants to stand at either end of the bridge making sure that double-decker buses don't pile up on the bridge and cause bad things to happen.

Official response
According to LBHF's website, it's all an unavoidable problem, for which they are "very sorry":

"We understand that every time the bridge is closed it causes frustration and we’re sorry. We’d love the planned refurbishment to be a fast, simple process, but with a bridge this old, this complex and this important we’ve got to make sure we get these repairs right".
But given that they have been postponing the repairs for years, this surely isn't a credible response.

And meanwhile, this will cause massive traffic congestion in Hammersmith and Barnes, as well as causing huge inconvenience for locals.

The solution
Our Council always tell us they have no money. But this isn't actually true; they have very valuable assets that serve no purpose and which they could easily sell if they wanted to. To see our proposed solution for how LBHF could raise the cash to solve this (and many other problems), follow this link.

The Shepherd's Bush Blog offers a personal view on life in Shepherd's Bush. If you would like to contribute a story about our neighbourhood, email us at shepherdsbushblog@gmail.com