Key Points
- Hammersmith and Fulham Council is seeking a share of a £1bn government fund to finance essential repairs on Hammersmith Bridge.
- The council’s current plan is to keep the bridge open for pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic, rather than restore it for all traffic.
- A pre-application for works costing £128 million has already been submitted, although the final figure may change.
- The Government has recommended a phased repair approach because the relevant fund requires projects to be completed by 31 March 2030.
- The council had previously hoped to secure the full £300 million needed for a full reopening to all traffic.
- Under a 2021 agreement, the Government and Transport for London were each expected to cover one third of the repair costs.
- The council says it has already received £15.96 million from the Department for Transport and TfL, and says a further £22.9 million is still due.
Hammersmith (West London News) July 9, 2026, has shifted its focus to keeping fulham/hammersmith/">Hammersmith Bridge open for cyclists, pedestrians and river traffic after its broader restoration plans ran into funding and deadline limits, according to reporting by The Standard.
What has the council decided?
As reported by the London Standard, Hammersmith and Fulham Council is now concentrating on a phased repair programme rather than a full restoration that would reopen the bridge to motor traffic.
The report says the council had hoped to secure the full £300 million required for a complete reopening, but that route has been weakened by the deadline attached to the government’s Structures Fund.
The fund’s completion deadline of 31 March 2030 is a major reason the council is being steered towards a narrower repair scheme.
Why is the full repair plan being scaled back?
According to The Standard, the Government has recommended that the council bid for phased repairs focused on keeping the bridge open for non-motor users. This is because the full restoration work would not realistically be completed in time for the funding deadline.
Mark Raisbeck, director of public realm at the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, said in a council report that there was “no financial option available” for full restoration, and that the phased bid would focus on the most critical life-expired parts of the structure.
How much money is involved?
The council has already submitted a pre-application for works costing £128 million, although that amount may change depending on the final bid and the Department for Transport’s decision.
The Standard also reports that the council received £15.96 million from the DfT and TfL, excluding earlier sums spent by TfL before stabilisation works began.
Based on current forecasts, the council says a further £22.9 million is due, mainly from TfL and the DfT, and it is asking for those previously agreed contributions to be paid in full.
What do the funding rules mean?
The Structures Fund is designed to support major infrastructure repairs, but its timetable matters as much as the engineering case.
The Standard says the bridge’s expected full restoration does not fit within the programme completion date of 31 March 2030. That makes a complete reopening to vehicles much harder to justify within the current funding framework.
How has the bridge been used recently?
The bridge has already been partially reopened for pedestrians and cyclists, and the current direction is to preserve that access.
The BBC reported in April 2025 that the bridge was open to cyclists, with a carriageway redesign allowing separate lanes for cycling and a pedestrian path, while outer footways remained for pedestrians only. Government material also notes that the bridge has remained open for walking and cycling since work supported by public funding, while the crossing remains the responsibility of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
What did the authorities say?
The Department for Transport told LBC that repair and maintenance of Hammersmith Bridge is the responsibility of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and said the Government had already provided £17 million to keep the bridge open for walking and cycling.
It added that it would continue working with the council and Transport for London while considering future funding through the new Structures Fund.
The Standard reports that the council and TfL remain in discussion over how the outstanding share of costs will be recovered.
Background of this development
Hammersmith Bridge has been a long-running infrastructure issue since cracks were found in its pedestals and the bridge was closed to vehicles in April 2019.
Since then, the debate has centred on how to stabilise the structure, how to pay for repairs, and whether the bridge should ultimately return to full traffic use.
Earlier public funding helped reopen the bridge to pedestrians and cyclists, but full reopening to cars has remained unresolved.
Prediction
For local residents, commuters and cyclists, the most likely outcome is continued access for walking and cycling, rather than a quick return of motor traffic.
For nearby transport users, that means the bridge may keep serving as a limited crossing while longer-term funding and engineering decisions continue.
For the wider audience watching London infrastructure policy, this case could become another example of how deadline-based funding rules shape what kind of repairs are actually possible.
