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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2021 22:00:26 GMT
Governments do not have unlimited money. They raise money by placing gilts, on which they have to pay interest. Means a lot bigger share of government future income will go on interest payments rather than health, education, defence and the likes. Well the way they’re wasting it at the moment means it pretty much is unlimited. The amount of corruption is unbelievable. Nothing but playing politics if they refuse to fund the repair of the bridge. But it isn’t the governments responsibility to fund the bridge repairs because H&F council can’t find the cash to do it themselves and have allowed the bridge to fall into such a state of disrepair. You didn’t see neighbouring Wandsworth asking for cash for repairs and upgrades to bridges on its turf. H&F should do everything they can to raise the money, they could find a corporate sponsor for the bridge, hold some private donation fundraisers and failing everything then turn to central government. |
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Post by southlondonbus on Mar 23, 2021 22:12:52 GMT
But in fairness to H&F it is a very unique structure which is listed so not so easy to repair. Every part of of work can potentially require specialists who know how to deal with a cast iron bridge which doesn't come cheap and isn't exactly something an in house team can deal with.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2021 22:32:01 GMT
But in fairness to H&F it is a very unique structure which is listed so not so easy to repair. Every part of of work can potentially require specialists who know how to deal with a cast iron bridge which doesn't come cheap and isn't exactly something an in house team can deal with. It doesn’t matter, it is primarily their responsibility and they failed to maintain it. They should have budgeted for repairs years ago when the bridge first experienced problems. Instead they have delayed major repairs over and over again until it is now in the state it is now. |
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Post by ronnie on Mar 23, 2021 22:50:22 GMT
Governments do not have unlimited money. They raise money by placing gilts, on which they have to pay interest. Means a lot bigger share of government future income will go on interest payments rather than health, education, defence and the likes. Well the way they’re wasting it at the moment means it pretty much is unlimited. The amount of corruption is unbelievable. Nothing but playing politics if they refuse to fund the repair of the bridge. I think people missed the sarcasm in the post |
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Post by Frenzie on Mar 23, 2021 23:31:13 GMT
Well the way they’re wasting it at the moment means it pretty much is unlimited. The amount of corruption is unbelievable. Nothing but playing politics if they refuse to fund the repair of the bridge. But it isn’t the governments responsibility to fund the bridge repairs because H&F council can’t find the cash to do it themselves and have allowed the bridge to fall into such a state of disrepair. You didn’t see neighbouring Wandsworth asking for cash for repairs and upgrades to bridges on its turf. H&F should do everything they can to raise the money, they could find a corporate sponsor for the bridge, hold some private donation fundraisers and failing everything then turn to central government. The bridge needs fixing. The government needs to step in. It’s an absolute embarrassment. H&F have clearly made huge mistakes. But ultimately the government is at fault because of cuts to local authorities. The government could provide funding tomorrow, but they won’t because they see this as an opportunity to score political points. Absolutely shameful. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2021 23:46:16 GMT
But it isn’t the governments responsibility to fund the bridge repairs because H&F council can’t find the cash to do it themselves and have allowed the bridge to fall into such a state of disrepair. You didn’t see neighbouring Wandsworth asking for cash for repairs and upgrades to bridges on its turf. H&F should do everything they can to raise the money, they could find a corporate sponsor for the bridge, hold some private donation fundraisers and failing everything then turn to central government. The bridge needs fixing. The government needs to step in. It’s an absolute embarrassment. H&F have clearly made huge mistakes. But ultimately the government is at fault because of cuts to local authorities. The government could provide funding tomorrow, but they won’t because they see this as an opportunity to score political points. Absolutely shameful. Likewise the council is consistently deflecting blame from itself. At the end of the day the local authority is responsible, why should the government have to step in and resolve a problem which the council has had countless opportunities to fix themselves. If the council made reasonable attempts to do everything within its power to repair the bridge and failed then fine but as far as I can see it has done nothing but ignore a problem hoping some tax payer in another part of the country who has never heard of this bridge will pay for its repairs. Government cuts in the last few years aside Hammersmith Bridge has needed proper repairs for a long time. What is the point in devolved local authorities if you demand central government pay for everything anyway, hmm. Like I said in previous posts H&F had plenty of options it could have explored, there are plenty of building developments in the borough why not slap a CIL on them to find bridge repairs which would benefit the whole borough or seek a private sector investor or fundraise locally, there are plenty of wealthy people on the Richmond side who I’m sure would donate some money to avoid travelling to Putney to cross but no by your logic they should just hold out and have someone else do the job for them. This bridge is a prime example of what is wrong with Britain today. |
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Post by SILENCED on Mar 23, 2021 23:50:13 GMT
But it isn’t the governments responsibility to fund the bridge repairs because H&F council can’t find the cash to do it themselves and have allowed the bridge to fall into such a state of disrepair. You didn’t see neighbouring Wandsworth asking for cash for repairs and upgrades to bridges on its turf. H&F should do everything they can to raise the money, they could find a corporate sponsor for the bridge, hold some private donation fundraisers and failing everything then turn to central government. The bridge needs fixing. The government needs to step in. It’s an absolute embarrassment. H&F have clearly made huge mistakes. But ultimately the government is at fault because of cuts to local authorities. The government could provide funding tomorrow, but they won’t because they see this as an opportunity to score political points. Absolutely shameful As a tax payers, why should the country pick up the tab for a councils incomperence. I live in Croydon, so primary placed to know about incompetent councils. H&F had years to fix it, and havent, why should central government pay for it when it is the local council that is responsible. |
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Post by SILENCED on Mar 24, 2021 0:00:40 GMT
But in fairness to H&F it is a very unique structure which is listed so not so easy to repair. Every part of of work can potentially require specialists who know how to deal with a cast iron bridge which doesn't come cheap and isn't exactly something an in house team can deal with. In fairness, the bridge is owned by them, so they should get on and repair it. It is not for the national tax payers to pick up the bill. |
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Post by Frenzie on Mar 24, 2021 0:11:22 GMT
The bridge needs fixing. The government needs to step in. It’s an absolute embarrassment. H&F have clearly made huge mistakes. But ultimately the government is at fault because of cuts to local authorities. The government could provide funding tomorrow, but they won’t because they see this as an opportunity to score political points. Absolutely shameful As a tax payers, why should the country pick up the tab for a councils incomperence. I live in Croydon, so primary placed to know about incompetent councils. H&F had years to fix it, and havent, why should central government pay for it when it is the local council that is responsible. They are the only ones that can raise that much capital to fix this issue as soon as possible. People need to stop looking to blame and punish H&F and just expect the problem not to get progressively worse. There are clearly services H&F has had to prioritise over the upkeep of the bridge. The fact they didn’t fix the bridge is not because of incompetence, but out of necessity due to a lack of resources. Surely it is the job of central government to ensure that local authorities are properly funded in order to provide the services expected of them? If the government think H&F council is being mismanaged then I suggest they take over and see if they can do any better. HS2 is something our taxes from all over the country is going towards but will only benefit a handful of people, yet it will be one of the most expensive infrastructure projects ever, and it is already planned to use outdated technology. £200 million to stop a bridge collapsing in a first world country is the spare change the chancellor finds down the back of the sofa. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2021 7:12:36 GMT
As a tax payers, why should the country pick up the tab for a councils incomperence. I live in Croydon, so primary placed to know about incompetent councils. H&F had years to fix it, and havent, why should central government pay for it when it is the local council that is responsible. They are the only ones that can raise that much capital to fix this issue as soon as possible. People need to stop looking to blame and punish H&F and just expect the problem not to get progressively worse. There are clearly services H&F has had to prioritise over the upkeep of the bridge. The fact they didn’t fix the bridge is not because of incompetence, but out of necessity due to a lack of resources. Surely it is the job of central government to ensure that local authorities are properly funded in order to provide the services expected of them? If the government think H&F council is being mismanaged then I suggest they take over and see if they can do any better. HS2 is something our taxes from all over the country is going towards but will only benefit a handful of people, yet it will be one of the most expensive infrastructure projects ever, and it is already planned to use outdated technology. £200 million to stop a bridge collapsing in a first world country is the spare change the chancellor finds down the back of the sofa. Hammersmith Bridge is over 130 years old, no amount of deflection will remove the fact that H&F council failed to ensure it was fit for purpose. The government allocates them money, how they choose to spend it is down to them. You don’t see other boroughs begging government for money to fix roads or bridges, because they are not mismanaged. If they chose not to allocate money to bridge repairs than that it is on them and is down to incompetence and the rest of the taxpayers who are also facing the same problems shouldn’t be burdened. A CIL agreement on all new building projects in H&Fs patch would have raised money whilst a loan could have been taken for the majority with it paid back from the CIL earnings. As for HS2 I don’t see how initial projected passenger numbers of 300,000 a day with the potential to free up the equivalent of 600,000 passengers from existing lines is not beneficial, not to mention the amount of lorries that could be removed because of improved freight capacity on existing lines creating more road space on motorways. Not really the same thing as a tiny bridge some council chose to ignore repairs on until it was close to collapse, is it. |
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Post by SILENCED on Mar 24, 2021 7:54:36 GMT
As a tax payers, why should the country pick up the tab for a councils incomperence. I live in Croydon, so primary placed to know about incompetent councils. H&F had years to fix it, and havent, why should central government pay for it when it is the local council that is responsible. They are the only ones that can raise that much capital to fix this issue as soon as possible. People need to stop looking to blame and punish H&F and just expect the problem not to get progressively worse. There are clearly services H&F has had to prioritise over the upkeep of the bridge. The fact they didn’t fix the bridge is not because of incompetence, but out of necessity due to a lack of resources. Surely it is the job of central government to ensure that local authorities are properly funded in order to provide the services expected of them? If the government think H&F council is being mismanaged then I suggest they take over and see if they can do any better. HS2 is something our taxes from all over the country is going towards but will only benefit a handful of people, yet it will be one of the most expensive infrastructure projects ever, and it is already planned to use outdated technology. £200 million to stop a bridge collapsing in a first world country is the spare change the chancellor finds down the back of the sofa. "They are the only ones that can raise that much capital to fix this issue as soon as possible." Any source for this to say H&F do not have the money to do it, as Croydons debt far outweighs this. If the government did pick up the tab, I hope it would be by the way of a repayable loan, with a little punishment interest on top. If it was any other party, the council would apply an enforcement notice on the work. Not sure who can enforce an enforcement notice. Croydon Council has £1.5b in debt, this is less than 10% of the sum H&F need. Is it because they can't pay for the repair, or they don't want to. Sorry, the state of the bridge is entirely down to H&Fs fiscal management. If you own something and don't keep it in a state of repair, the council will serve an enforcement notice on you. Someone needs to take H&F to court, to get them to wake up to their responsibilities rather than shirking it. Sorry, the problem is theirs and it is due to their incompetence you manage budgets correctly. The bridge has been getting progressively worse, and they as owners have chosen to do nothing about it to rectify. £200m , one of the most expensive project ever, don't make me laugh. If there is £200m available, I would rather it was spent on health, rather than bailing out an incompetent council. The only way I would be happy for this to occur, if it is done as a repayable loan. |
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Post by snowman on Mar 26, 2021 19:24:08 GMT
For interest here is a feature on closing, repairing, and preventing future problems, this summer, and when finished, allowing 44t vehicles to use the 200 year old historic grade II listed Cleveland Bridge in Bath. If they can do it, (spend £4m and use Highways challenge fund so £3.5m of it comes from Government) why couldn’t H&F do similar, instead of letting their bridge fall apart beta.bathnes.gov.uk/cleveland-bridge-renovation-project/scheme-overview |
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 30, 2021 14:50:18 GMT
Thames Clippers has won the contract to operate the temporary Hammersmith Ferry. They will use a 25-metre Fairey Brooke Marine ‘Hydrocat’ catamaran and will be able to transport up to 800 people an hour across the river between 6am and 10pm daily. Cyclists will be carried.
Fares and pass acceptance are expected to be the same as on TfL buses, and a Hopper option means that most people who use the ferry as part of a longer bus journey will effectively get the ferry crossing for free.
Service is expected to start in late Summer.
In the meantime, Thames Clippers resumed a reduced service between Battersea and Woolwich from Monday 29th March, a 20-minute service operates for most of the day although half the weekday off-peak service terminates at North Greenwich. The Canary Wharf-Rotherhithe crossing remains suspended.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on May 19, 2021 10:35:57 GMT
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Post by southlondonbus on May 19, 2021 11:30:44 GMT
Welcome news. I know it's hard to believe when we almost had DDs ordered for the 72 but even being opening to just pedestrians is a massive improvement in reality as once again the 33, 209, 419 and 485 can get people within a 15 min walk of Hammersmith bus station. |
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