00:00 So today is the fifth anniversary of the closure of Hammersmith Bridge in April 2019.
00:06 We're very much, we're just commemorating the day.
00:08 It's obviously not a celebration for people, both who live near the bridge and those from further afield,
00:13 who have found over the last five years that their ability to move around this part of the city
00:18 has been really, really severely curtailed and that's had such a massive impact on so many people.
00:23 Who is primarily to blame for the bridge's continued closure?
00:26 Well, there's no doubt in my mind we need to see something from the government
00:30 in order to get things moving for Hammersmith Bridge.
00:32 We've been in conversations with Hammersmith and Fulham who own the bridge,
00:35 for TfL who obviously have strategic responsibility,
00:38 but the fact remains there's no money to fix the bridge unless the government are
00:43 prepared to come to the table with a proper proposal for funding.
00:46 And I have been asking the Department for Transport repeatedly,
00:50 ever since I was elected, what it is that they plan to do.
00:55 They've had a proposal on their desk from Hammersmith and Fulham since last year,
01:00 and every time I ask they're still considering it.
01:02 We really need to see something from the government,
01:05 a really renewed commitment to funding the repairs to this bridge.
01:08 What's behind the hold-up if it's been on their desk for that amount of time, as far as you're aware?
01:13 I have no idea. I assume it's a reluctance just to kind of get to grips with what needs to happen here,
01:18 reluctance to commit the funds. It's expensive, no one's denying that.
01:22 But of course the costs have grown over the last five years and that's a significant issue now,
01:26 where I think the original estimates for repairing the bridge were something in the region of,
01:32 I think, 70 million to start with and now multiple hundreds of millions,
01:36 and obviously that's a large amount of money.
01:39 So I think obviously that's part of the hold-up,
01:43 but we can't really afford to waste any more time.
01:46 We need to get on with it, we need that commitment,
01:48 and people locally and further afield need to see what's going to happen.
01:53 What has been the impact on your constituents here in Richmond Park?
01:57 I think the main impact has been a real limitation on what people are able to do.
02:03 You know, they can't cross the bridge here.
02:05 It really limits their ability to seek employment on the north side of the Thames.
02:10 For local children it really limits their choice of schools because it's really, really hard to travel.
02:15 But I think primarily people can't catch a bus now from this side of the Thames to the other side of the Thames,
02:21 and that just creates so many limitations,
02:22 particularly people who don't have access to a car, who can't walk or cycle across the bridge,
02:27 and it's those people who are really, really feeling the impact of the bridge closure.
02:32 Obviously there are different views about how the bridge should be restored and repaired.
02:35 There are some that are saying it shouldn't be reopened to cars but perhaps to buses.
02:39 Is it absolutely necessary in your view that the bridge be also opened to cars?
02:43 I've always said my priority is that it should be open to buses and to emergency vehicles,
02:50 and that for me has always been the priority because that's what's really creating the limitations for my constituents.
02:58 But obviously in order for the bridge to be repaired to that level, that's expensive.
03:04 So that's what we want to see.
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