Hammersmith Bridge won't reopen to cars anytime soon as council scales back repair plans
Bad news for drivers
After years of debate, funding rows and ever-changing repair plans, Hammersmith & Fulham Council has effectively accepted that getting cars and buses back on the historic crossing isn't financially realistic, at least for now.
Instead, the council is focusing on securing government funding for a £128 million programme of essential repairs designed to keep the bridge safely open for pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic, rather than restoring it for full motor use.
The money would come from the Government's £1 billion Structures Fund, which the council had originally hoped would cover the estimated £300 million needed to fully reopen the bridge. However, hopes of securing that level of funding have faded after officials indicated the bridge's lengthy restoration wouldn't meet the fund's deadline, which requires projects to be completed by the 31st of March 2030.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting this week, council leader Stephen Cowan said the authority simply couldn't afford to fund the remaining work itself.
"We have to be honest with residents," he said. "If it was a magic money tree, we could fix it. But we don't live in a something-for-nothing society."
The 139-year-old Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to motor traffic since 2019 after engineers discovered dangerous micro-fractures in its cast iron pedestals. It reopened to pedestrians and cyclists in 2021 following emergency stabilisation works, but buses, taxis and private vehicles have never returned.
Since then, the bridge has become the centre of a long-running funding dispute between Hammersmith & Fulham Council, the Department for Transport and Transport for London. The council says it has already spent around £54 million maintaining and stabilising the structure and believes it's still owed almost £23 million under a previous agreement that split repair costs equally between the three organisations.
Richmond Council's deputy leader, Alexander Ehmann, criticised the decision to prioritise walking and cycling over reopening the bridge to public transport, arguing it would leave older and disabled residents facing longer journeys.
"If we accept that buses will never return, we're not just making an engineering decision," he said. "We're making a social choice about who benefits and who is left behind."
Opposition councillors also questioned why Labour, which currently controls Hammersmith & Fulham Council, the London mayoralty and the UK Government, had failed to secure funding for a full restoration.
For now, though, the priority is simply keeping one of London's most recognisable bridges standing. Whether cars ever return to Hammersmith Bridge will largely depend on whether the Government is willing to stump up hundreds of millions of pounds beyond the current funding programme. At the moment, that looks a long way off.
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