Forum Topic

Government settinig up Hammersmith Bridge Task Force

"We’ll be decisive and quick":Ummm. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.

Una-Jane Winfield ● 2239d21 Comments

Perhaps they have been embarrassed by the rather good piece in the New York Times.  Or maybe not.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/world/europe/london-bridges.html

Philippa Bond ● 2239d

So the government has to step in because the inept mayor fails miserably to do his job.

Steve Taylor ● 2239d

No the Govt failed to make sure they adequately financed the repair and maintenance or renewal of old infrastructure.  Your reply has echoes of Donald Trump.

Philippa Bond ● 2239d

There are three London bridges closed. Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London.Sadiq Khan failed to secure adequate financing for the proper maintenance/repair/replacement as required for these bridges.Said Khan also failed to take note of a £1 billion (at the time) shortfall in the Crossrail budget.And then he says "I'm not going to apologize."What more does this man have to do - or not do as the case may be - to prove to you Philippa that he is ill-equipped to run a world capital city?

David Lesniak ● 2238d

'There are three London bridges closed, Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London.'Yes but the Mayor does not have responsibility for all the bridges,  Tower Bridge for example falls under the City of London Corporation.  Like Phillipa said blaming the Mayor for everything is a Trump tactic in a bid to politicise everything.

Matthew Swain ● 2238d

David Lesniak explained" Sadiq Khan failed to secure adequate financing for the proper maintenance/repair/replacement as required for these bridges."So how do you propose he should have gone aboutthis David, in order to secure adequate funding ?He's a Labour Mayor trying to extract money from a Conservative Govt during a  period of austerity.And you didn't need to be Sadiq Khan to recognisethe likely consequences of chronic underfunding, he wouldn't be telling them anything they didn't already know So what cards did he have to play David?  Give me themoney I need, or else I'll...Or else what, exactly ?michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2238d

I remember the bridge being repainted but it was so long ago I can't remember when. It turned from grey to green as I recall.Proper routine maintenance should have prevented this problem but it has been kicked down the road for decades by successive irresponsible administrators.Anyway that is irrelevant now, the focus has to be getting it done completely and not some half arse short term lash up.

Adrian Irving ● 2238d

MA > "So how do you propose he should have gone aboutthis David, in order to secure adequate funding ?"On 10 December 2019, Zac Goldsmith announced:"I have secured Govt support - including the necessary funds - for a temporary bridge while Hammersmith bridge is being repaired."https://twitter.com/ZacGoldsmith/status/1204469992256880643It turns out it was just an electoral bribe. Goldsmith lost his seat a couple of days later: the government support was forgotten about.Goldsmith landed on his feet, though, as Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park.

John Whitworth ● 2238d

Truly believe Zac would have got things going on this one,

Janice Evans ● 2238d

While Sadiq Khan may not be directly responsible for repairing London's non-functioning bridges, one would have thought that as Mayor of London, he would have a good deal of 'influence'. He has, after all, supported a policy which has resulted in major traffic disruption all over London, endorsed by the virtue-signalling slogan: 'To the Mayor and TfL, every journey matters'; could he not now support and encourage a bridge-repair policy which might actually help to reduce traffic problems in many parts of the London area?

Colin Jordan ● 2238d

Since Sadiq Khan became Mayor the government have done all they can to undermine him and the position of London Mayor. Even with the bail out for London Transport which was needed due to the lack of passengers over these troubled times, way out of the Mayor's control, they have cleverly made it a condition that the Congestion Charge is upped and lengthened and who gets the blame? This is always going to be the case when the Tories cannot control things, typical tiny minded, petty and spiteful behaviour from them. And of course they are making such a success of the Covid situation and now the Brexit sh*tstorm.

Vanessa Smith ● 2238d

I suppose a referendum on whether we still want a London Mayor is out of the question ? It would be interesting to know the cost of Sadiq's office and the associated layer of government. It might almost be worth it if we could go back to smaller boroughs in local areas under the Mayor and the GLA and break up the likes of LB Hounslow.

Richard Greenhough ● 2238d

"No the Govt failed to make sure they adequately financed the repair and maintenance or renewal of old infrastructure."Nothing to do with central government. That is why we have a mayor and TfL. Unfortunately for Londoners, both are useless and grossly overpaid.

Steve Taylor ● 2238d

"He's a Labour Mayor trying to extract money froma Conservative Govt during a  period of austerity."So what you are saying is that you should never have a Labour Mayor whilst the Conservatives are in power.

Steve Taylor ● 2238d

As ever, Matthew weighs in with some Trump-tastic blather. I'm never sure why.Trump isn't the Mayor of London.Sadid Khan is. And his bobbing and weaving and "not apologizing" is a sorry ass excuse for not knowing and not bothering to care. And yet you defend him. Perhaps you bought his spiel on bus drivers as he let them work without protection simultaneously regaling us with the story of his father being a bus driver hence Sadiq cares. Actions, Matthew. Not words. Khan has no actions. Just  blather from a PR script.

David Lesniak ● 2238d

Shame Zac didn't win the election for Mayor, wasn't it ?

Richard Greenhough ● 2238d

You are making a lot of assumptions about me including the premise that I support this mayor.  I am pointing out the fact that he does not have responsibility for the all 3 bridges which is an attack line which has been adopted by many of his critics.I am personally quite upset at the state of the Hammersmith bridge.

Matthew Swain ● 2238d

"Nothing to do with central government. That is why we have a mayor and TfL."Nothing to do with TfL.  The bridge carries the A306 which is a borough road, not part of the TfL road network.  It's been the responsibility of Hammersmith & Fulham borough for years.

Richard Jennings ● 2238d

" So what you are saying is that you should never have a Labour Mayor whilst the Conservatives are in power."Which word or word in the five word phrase "duringa period of austerity" which you ignored, are you having the biggest difficulty with, Steve ? Some facts which are maybe relevant.  The UK as a country has been papering over the crackssince mid way through WW1 when we had to start borrowing from the US to continue fighting. A second World War and the maintanance/loss of an Empire did nothing to arrest this.Germany lost both these wars yet recovered better than the UK, Empire of not. Boris Johnson's et al'swhole Brexit schtick is that the UK are somehow superior to Germans and all other foreigners and wecan just shout at them, bluff and muddle our way through and money will be no problem. Its all fur coat and no knickers. Boris had plenty of money to waste on a garden bridge which never materialied but none which was needed to maintain  the crumbling Victorian and other Infrastructure which was built during a period of confidenceLike a lot of other politicians he was only interested in new projects offering lots ofphoto-opportunities not in spending moneyon basic maintainence which doesn't attract headlines. A topic which could fill a book by itself And anyone who imagines Brexit is going to improvethis situation they're seriously deluding themselves    I'm still waiting to hear precisely what Sadiq Khan is supposed to do BTW, to secure funding for thisand all these other projects in the face of Govtintransigence. Stamp his foot repeatedly ?  michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2238d

Who was responsible for managing the bus gates either side of the bridge I wonder?Even something as simple as that was a dismal failure so what hope is there it will be fully operational any time soon.

Adrian Irving ● 2238d

I stand corrected, Richard. Thanks!

Steve Taylor ● 2238d