Speaking in the London Assembly about the continued closure of Hammersmith Bridge, with no clear plan to fund its repair, Caroline Pidgeon called on the government to engage and provide financial support to get the bridge into use again.
"Pedestrians and cyclists need to be able to use the bridge as an absolute priority, and we need to ensure that some road traffic can use it in the future. There are some schoolchildren now facing a 90-minute journey just to get to school!
"No single council could suddenly find the cash to repair and restore such a historic bridge. Hammersmith and Fulham should have published the full state of the bridge earlier, as requested by many of us, and then we'd have understood the challenges earlier and could have started to make the case before the bridge had to close - but the reality is the only way this bridge can be fully repaired and restored is through additional funding from government to support the £25m committed by TfL.
"The lack of engagement from central government on this is appalling.
"It's time that funding was agreed so we can get this bridge repaired, restored and open again for local residents.