Hammersmith Bridge and Alton Estate Dominate Hustings Debate

Candidates for the Putney constituency disagree on solutions

The candidates at the hustings at St Mary's Church to host the event

June 21, 2024

Hammersmith Bridge and the state of a ‘rotting’ Roehampton estate have been branded ’embarrassing’ by candidates battling to become the next MP for Putney. Candidates vying for the seat were grilled on how they would tackle key local issues at a general election hustings on this Tuesday (18 June) – including housing, transport and empty shops.

Labour’s Fleur Anderson, who was elected as MP for Putney in 2019, took part in the hustings at St Mary’s Church, along with the Conservative’s Lee Roberts, Lib Dems’ Kieren McCarthy, Green’s Fergal McEntee, Workers Party’s Heiko Khoo and Reform UK’s Peter Hunter. The hustings were held by The Putney Society, with residents’ questions read out by a moderator.

The five-year closure of Hammersmith Bridge to vehicles sparked a fiery debate between candidates as they disagreed on how, and whether, to reopen it. Ms Anderson said Putney had been plunged into ‘chaos’ by the closure and called on the government to approve Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s business case to fully repair it. “It’s obviously a government issue and it’s a national embarrassment that it’s not been fixed,” she added.

Mr McCarthy also said the government would need to fund the bridge repairs, estimated to cost £250 million, and pledged to reopen it within a year if elected. Mr Roberts, however, called for Transport for London (TfL) to take charge of repairing the bridge, while Mr Hunter said TfL and the government should jointly sort it out.

Mr McEntee told residents he would instead prioritise getting drivers to ditch their cars for public transport as the bridge is already open to pedestrians and cyclists. “It’s not about one bridge,” he said. “It’s about the fact that we’ve got a choc-a-bloc city full of cars and we don’t need cars.”

Mr Khoo suggested a new bridge next to the existing crossing would ‘immediately resolve the problem’ before addressing the repairs.

The candidates were also grilled on how they would support the long-awaited regeneration of the Alton Estate in Roehampton. Plans under Wandsworth Council’s old Conservative administration, drawn up in 2014, would have seen 288 flats on the estate demolished for 1,108 new ones, including 261 that would be classed as affordable. But Labour scrapped the plans when it took control of the authority in 2022, arguing they did not include enough council homes, to put together a new scheme.

Mr McCarthy said furious residents have been ‘treated appallingly for 20 years’ as he raised concerns their views have not been properly considered. “It was the estate of the future,” he said. “It’s been left to rot and it’s an embarrassment.”

Ms Anderson slammed the old Conservative plans as failing to consider the whole area. She said the Labour council has now put together the ‘right plan’ for the Alton Estate, which include homes, shops, community spaces and transport, by consulting residents and there will be a ballot to decide on whether to move forward with the proposals in due course.

Mr Roberts said the old Conservative scheme needed some improvement, and that he is prepared to be critical about his party, but accused Labour of scrapping it ‘for pure ideology’. He called for the old plans to be reinstated.

Mr McEntee, however, argued the estate has become a ‘political football between Labour and the Conservatives’. He said listening to residents and allowing them to tell the council what they want for the estate is most important.

Mr Khoo described the estate as ‘being left to rot’ when he last visited in 2015. He said residents ‘need to have control over their lives’ and he would support their views on the regeneration. Mr Hunter added he would work more closely with residents to make their wishes a reality.

Another key issue raised at the meeting was the regeneration of Putney High Street. Mr McCarthy said it has nearly 20 empty shops and, when quizzed about revamping it, that he has launched a charity to open them by taking on the lease and helping local businesses set up. Mr Hunter said he would support the charity if elected.

Mr McEntee also slammed the number of empty shops on the high street as an ‘absolute disgrace’. He called for harsher fines on overseas landlords of empty shops and pledged to introduce a scheme giving local businesses grants to bring them back into use. Ms Anderson said councils should be given more power over landlords to open empty shops, while supporting Labour policies to replace business rates, stamp out late payments from big clients and tackle shoplifting.

Mr Khoo called for business rates on empty shops to be temporarily suspended to help small businesses and said he wants to see greater variety on the high street. Mr Roberts pledged to create a ‘world-class farmer’s market’ using Putney’s riverside location and to bring in large-scale businesses to revamp parts of it to make Putney the ‘foodie capital of London’.

The candidates also answered questions on crime, the cost-of-living crisis, education, climate change and the Israel-Gaza war. Rejoin EU’s Felix Burford-Connole was unable to attend the hustings, but he was represented by Bill Colegrave who described Brexit as a ‘horror story’.

Voters will head to the polls to choose who they want to represent them on 4 July.

Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter