Putney Bridge deja vu

When oh when are the Conservatives going to meet their responsibilities in respect of Putney Bridge and repair this damaged and neglected structure?

They cannot blame the cold weather for the state it's in right now: the erosion is happening all year round and anyone who's a regular reader of this blog will know I've beeing trying to persuade the Tories of the importance of repairing the bridge properly for months and months.

These are just photos of potholes on one side of one half of the bridge. The biggest problem with the bridge is not these huge potholes that keep opening up or collapsing into themselves every few weeks - serious though those are - because at least the Conservatives make some effort to patch them up. No, the real problem are the long "ruts" that run along the length of the bridge usually where lanes meet - which is of course where cyclists tend to be. These ruts are usually ignored by the Conservatives and they're getting deeper and deeper.

Sooner or later, a cyclist will be thrown off their bike because of this Conservative negligence, and on one of London's busiest bridges that is a frightening prospect.

My five point plan for Putney Bridge is straightforward and will sort it out:

1) Force the council and Thames Water to sit down until they've hammered out a joint agreement to repair the bridge between them

2) Fix the leaking pipes that run through the bridge that are the principal cause of the erosion

3) Resurface the entire bridge properly: laying the northbound cycle lane while this is being done
4) Repair the floodlights illuminating the bridge - if necessary replacing the existing floodlights the council has trouble getting to with those it's much easier to reach

5) Take out the traffic lights that stop traffic in the middle of the bridge - or alternatively fix them so they only do what they were set up to do: stop traffic only when a 22 or 265 bus is seeking to get from the bus lane across to the lane turning into Lower Richmond Road.

We'll only get this plan if you vote for change at the elections later this year. The Tory neglect of Putney Bridge is a disgrace. And it's happening despite the leader of the Council himself being one of the area's local representatives. If he is incapable of taking sufficient pride in Putney Bridge to keep it in an acceptable state, you need to elect representatives who are.

Janet Grimshaw, Chris Locke and Bibi Qureshi as your local Labour councillors will do just that.