Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the meetings of the Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce, what progress they have made with repairing Hammersmith Bridge; and when they expect the bridge will fully re-open.

Hammersmith Bridge is owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) and therefore responsibility for making decisions on its repair lies with the borough.

My Department and Transport for London (TfL) are working constructively with LBHF as it makes progress with its business cases for the project. The submission of these cases is a condition for the release of any Government or TfL contribution to the cost of repairing the bridge.

The works are split into two phases: stabilisation and strengthening. The completion of both phases will allow the permanent reopening of the bridge to all users.

LBHF is due to start the stabilisation phase of works in February. The timeline of the project to reopen the bridge fully is dependent on the engineering solutions chosen by LBHF.