Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, has written to me to give his backing replacing the Hammersmith Flyover and a stretch of the A4 with a “flyunder”.
He says:
“I strongly support the idea of taking the A4 underground, allowing us to knit together all of Hammersmith into one beautiful riverside town. The project also has huge potential for reducing air and noise pollution. With up to 10,000 lives cut short a year due to London’s poor air quality, I am committed to taking action to address this. Tackling the gridlock and congestion at sites such as the Hammersmith flyover is essential to ensuring both motorists and the environment benefit and I await the outcome of the consultation process with great interest.
“However, the scheme is not currently funded in Transport for London’s business plan – which means the next Mayor will need to work with Government, business and the local community to find innovative ways to finance the scheme. I am determined to do that.”
When Zac makes a pledge he means it. So this is excellent news. Now all we need to do is to get him elected….
Hammersmith and Fulham Forum 
Thank you Harry. Very helpful!
I shall push for a similar endorsement from Sadiq!
It is also worth noting that while the non-funding of the Flyunder is TfL¹s current stance, based upon this being a ‘local issue’, this is at odds with their/the Mayor¹s announcement of three weeks ago of the two strategic west-east tunnels (see attached), of which the Flyunder would form the first section and is therefore hardly a local issue¹ but Regional’ if not ¹National¹ relevance.
It is a shame that we have been unable to get a hammersmith Hustings for Zac and Sadiq!
Regards
Tom Ryland Chairman The Hammersmith Society
Campaigning for over 50 years
From: Hammersmith and Fulham Forum Reply-To: Hammersmith and Fulham Forum Date: Wednesday, 2 March 2016 at 18:48 To: Tom Ryland Subject: [New post] Zac backs flyunder plan for the A4
WordPress.com harryphibbs posted: “Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, has written to me to give his backing replacing the Hammersmith Flyover and a stretch of the A4 with a “flyunder”. He says: “I strongly support the idea of taking the A4 underground, all”
I would love to see real progress with this project rather than various politicians alternately talking about it then procrastinating for year after year. The funding will mainly come from selling the commercial and residential real estate created when the flyover goes underground. That is not an intellectual or technological puzzle – we aren’t looking for the Higgs boson – so action please!
I wish you were right, Richard. The powers that be set the expectation that new capacity in England could be tolled, but replacement capacity would be free.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hammersmith-flyover-tunnel-new-road-toll-replacement-boris-johnson-a2-10033139.html
“Motorists will have to pay to use a new west London road tunnel that could replace the decaying Hammersmith flyover, it emerged today. Boris Johnson said that introducing a toll – expected to be in the region of £2 per car – would be an important way of raising funds for the multi-million pound project.” – Standard, February 9th, 2015
Sounds like the property developers aren’t being squeezed enough? Or is it that Transport for London are looking for tolls at the least excuse? Either way, it will displace more traffic onto roads around the Broadway as motorists strive to avoid being ripped off.
In the Labour manifesto for the council elections Stephen Cowan clearly said that he would DELIVER the flyunder, not lobby for it but actually deliver it. So, where is it ? Or maybe that was like his other “promises” to cut council tax more than the Conservatives, and cancel the Town Hall redevelopment, and block changes at Charing X etc. etc. etc.
As local residents who will be directly affected, we feel that although we are in favour of the “Flyunder”, for the cost of a latte, all users can chip in with TfL also paying its fair share and the “investors”, too. Do we want another “vanity project” Dubai or Kuala Lampur in Hammersmith Town Centre? We don’t think so. Why not the Swiss model where all visitors are “privileged” to invest, in UK as well? The monies must be invested somewhere anyway.
Hammersmith Grove Residents Assocation
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