Wandsworth Council has refused to support Hammersmith & Fulham’s bid to fix Hammersmith Bridge, because the plan would keep it shut to cars for good.
H&F’s cabinet approved a £128m bid to a government Structures Fund in July, after a report found no financial option for the £300m needed to fully restore the bridge by the fund’s 2030 deadline. The money would keep the bridge open to pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic. Cars and buses would stay off it.
In a letter that Wandsworth Council subsequently sent to Hammersmith & Fulham Council after it was asked for support as part of that bid (the government wants to see broader support for applications to the fund), the new leader of the council declined to provide the support it was asked for: a position that was met with hostility.
H&F’s transport lead, Cllr Nicole Trehy, has accused Wandsworth of “playing political games” and said blocking the bid risks “the complete closure of Hammersmith Bridge, including to Wandsworth residents who rely on it.”
Wandsworth’s position is clear. Its new transport chief, Cllr Nick Austin, put it in his own words: “The Conservatives will not support any bid that does not reopen Hammersmith Bridge to all modes of transport.” Or, as put directly by council leader Robert Morritt in his letter to H&F, the bid “fell well short of what the vast majority of residents and businesses in the immediate area and across London would like to see.” The Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce, he added, “has not met for over a year,” calling that unacceptable.
Wandsworth’s website says changes to the Putney Bridge junction, the crossing that absorbs traffic displaced by Hammersmith Bridge’s closure, have “resulted in unexpected congestion, particularly on Putney Bridge Road and Lower Richmond Road,” and that the council has “been extremely concerned about this” since the works began in September 2024, nearly two years ago.
Cllr Morritt represents Thamesfield, the ward that contains the junction. Cllr Austin represents the neighbouring West Putney, but his Register of Members’ Interests, reveals his employment at RiverHomes on Lower Richmond Road: the road most impacted by traffic. It’s not surprising then, given that the leader of the council and the transport head represent the part of Putney that has suffered most from the bridge’s closure to road traffic that they are not supportive of a plan that would effectively give up on having cars cross the next Thames bridge over.
Putney.news asked both councillors and H&F’s press office about the letter, their current positions and what plans they actually have to get the bridge open. No reply had arrived by the time this story was published.
Wandsworth’s letter to H&F arrived two days after the fund’s 16 July deadline for responses. That deadline fell the day after Morritt won Wandsworth’s Tory leadership contest. H&F’s officers say the council is still owed money by TfL and central government toward the £54m it says it has already spent on the bridge. A decision on the £128m bid is expected from the government in autumn.
What you can do
Wandsworth’s transport brief is now held by Cllr Nick Austin, the council leader is Cllr Robert Morritt. Both represent wards on the Putney side of the river. H&F’s transport lead is Cllr Nicole Trehy. Putney’s MP, Fleur Anderson, has previously pushed for full restoration of the bridge.
