Hammersmith Bridge taskforce virtual meeting hosted by Richmond Council starting now. Currently more than 650 people on the zoom call #LDReporter

17 major defective elements need addressing before the bridge can be fully opened, says engineer David Coles

Temperature is particularly damaging to the pedestals

The bridge will need to undergo emergency stabilisation, then permanent stabilisation and eventually strengthening

Emergency stabilisation could allow pedestrians and cyclists across. This is expected to take 7 months and cost £13.9m

Permanent stabilisation will then take 21 months and cost £32 million

To strengthen the bridge to allow cars again will take 30 months and cost £80m

We are told it will take 66 working days to start of ferry contract - targeted for spring next year

Cllr Sue Fennimore from H&F says the council is very sorry and they are acutely aware of the disruption

The decision to close the bridge to pedestrians was made due to public safety. The council found decades of unchecked corrosion and say two applications have been made to the DfT and one to MHCLG for "shovel ready projects" but all were rejected or not replied to

She says funding is the "critical point" and the borough is not in a position to fund the extraordinary work needed. They are facing a £19m shortfall to fund covid costs.

She emphasises the bridge is a national strategic asset and h&f will not end commitment to adult social care, free school meals etc to fund the bridge. She rebuts claims they have not submitted detailed plans on solutions and says a solution can't come quickly enough for resident

Cllr Gareth Roberts from Richmond also apologises and says it has gone on for far too long. Richmond makes it clear it does not own and does not have a responsibility to maintain the bridge

He says a temporary crossing (a ferry or temporary pedestrian or cycling bridge) is the key priority

Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for transport, also adds apologies for not getting to a plan and funding more quickly. She says TfL has a responsibility to help find the solution even though H&F owns it. She says they have worked collaboratively with the councils with £16m spent

Covid has "devastated" TfL's finances but insists they want to do all they can to get the bridge back open. There have been 6 meetings of the taskforce - she says funding for emergency stabilisation needs to come about quickly as bridge is crumbling under its own weight

She says they would have failed residents if people can't walk and cycle across by this time next year

Bob Baker from the Port of London Authority says he is focussed on getting vessels and river traffic moving under the bridge. His main concern is safety and says stabilisation is essential before temporary solutions are brought in

600 questions were submitted!

Baroness Vere says they are looking at six and a half years until the bridge is open to vehicles again

Christina, a Richmond resident, wants to know when the bridge will open to pedestrians and cyclists

Dana Skelley says there is no simple answer but says a partial and controlled opening could be brought in after they know the full condition of the pedestals

Heidi Alexander says that when TfL made a submission to the DfT earlier this year they included a timeline.

Question on funding now - asking why the government doesn't step in to fill the gap

Baroness Vere says the government does not own the bridge - it is a local asset. Improvements and maintenance are the legal responsibility of the owner.

She notes the government does fund improvements but insists the local authority always makes a contribution

She says it is money from taxpayers across the country and it has to be fair to them

She says Hammersmith and Fulham is legally responsible for the works but she agrees that the bridge is exceptional and in this case the government does have a role to play and will provide funding to get the package put together

"We are getting there but we still have a little way to go" says Baroness Vere

Heidi Alexander agrees that working on a non-party political basis is important. She reiterates that TfL have submitted two applications to DfT that had no response.

She welcomes the government committing to a proportion of the funding to getting the bridge open. "Clearly councils in London don't have tens of millions of pounds lying around" - she wonders if some form of toll may be required in the future

She says it is an important conversation to have to find a solution to funding the bridge. She would ask the government to consider front loading its contribution to start the procurement on the first stage of works

Baroness Vere says H&F will not have to pay anywhere near the full amount but there will need to be a local contribution

She says she will look at trying to front load the funding but needs to be assured that if an agreement is reached they are looking at the entire project. She is concerned emergency work will happen and then no further work will follow

Sue asks if anyone will attempt to replace the bridge - as was done in Genoa

Cllr Fennimore from H&F says they are fully committed to fully restoring the landmark with listed status. They are looking into different sources of funding

Cllr Roberts said trying to demolish the bridge would make repairs take even longer and there would be legal challenges from heritage groups

On to ferries - key issue is on capacity and it needs to be funded publicly so it runs even if not commercially viable says Baroness Vere

The taskforce has committed to a public procurement for the ferry service - Dana Skelley says the fastest route is 66 days - to start in the spring.

Cllr Roberts allays fears there may be blockage on funding. He says Richmond is ready to invest in the capital spending for safe landing points on the river banks. Says the ferry needs to be pushed ahead with asap

Cllr Fennimore from H&F also says they will do everything they can to ensure ferry projects can be supported.

Heidi Alexander says TfL have had to put a stop on all new spend across the organisation because they don't have any guarantee on funding from the government for TfL. She doesn't think it will be possible to get contractor before Christmas

Baroness Vere thinks there needs to be more movement from H&F.

Cllr Fennimore says the council is spending a lot of money supporting the bridge as it is and there is a huge amount of pressure on their funding

On to temporary bridges - Nicholas from Fulham says the knock on traffic impact from the bridge closure is "horrendous" and heightened tension on the streets. He wants a temporary road bridge

Baroness Vere says a temporary footbridge isn't needed if emergency stabilisation can be sorted. But that doesn't sort the issues with cars and traffic - and she wants to look at the feasibility of this

Dana Skelley says many proposals have been out forward. Many are technically feasible but so far she can't see an easy way that a road bridge can be fitted in there. She's not sure money looking into this may not be the best investment

Cllr Roberts says this would also cause legal challenges and wouldn't be worth it - reiterates ferry crossing is more urgent

Jeremy from Kensington and Chelsea wants to know about the regulations on vessels going under the bridge

Bob Baker from Port of London Authority says there was originally a closure for all river traffic since the closure but they have been working with the council to organise controlled passages of vessels under. There have been two or three he says - many need to go to dry docks

They are looking to see if they can get more controlled river passages under the bridge to get to the dry docks or fuel deliveries but it's not going to be a "free for all" and they could always be cancelled at the last minute

Cllr Fennimore from H&F says there has been concern about it from houseboats and the RNLI and the council is doing everything they can to ensure there are controlled crossing points but every single aspect needs to be assessed and cleared

Impact on schools now - Jane from Richmond wants to know if safety of schoolchildren will be addressed during dark winter months

H&F are working with local officers on this - Cllr Roberts from Richmond says the council has committed to towpath parkguard patrols and they are doing remedial works. They are looking at additional lighting to the towpath but there are issues with bats

Question on increased traffic on other bridges. Heidi Alexander says since April 2019 TfL has been monitoring and trying to manage the flow of traffic. On the 533 bus she says they have increased the frequency and this will increase again to 5 buses an hour in the morning peak

There is difficulty at the bridge at Barnes station preventing this from becoming a double decker route during morning peaks when there is a lot of traffic where the bus has to move to the centre of the road to pass

Cllr Fennimore says it's absolutely clear this needs to be sorted as soon as possible. The council wants to get an action plan in place as quickly as possible. She needs clarity and understanding on funding

Heidi Alexander echoes the urgency on this - she says it's seven weeks after the first meeting and they are still not there. "I am hamstrung at the moment because of the funding situation."

Baroness Vere says they can all be found on Twitter and she does read messages from the public. She reiterates the government stands ready to fund the project, but there needs to be local contributions and a robust project plan

I hope that was informative for those who didn't manage to get on the call. There will be a write up tomorrow morning and I gather a recording will also be available soon which I will post a link to below when I have it

Appears to be accessible on YouTube here for those who missed it

Summary of the key points here. We're in it for the long haul #LDReporter https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/you-wont-able-drive-across-19185301