London Assembly report recommends using Vehicle Excise Duty to fund repiars of Londond's Bridges. Nov 2021

The London Assembly report "London's River Crossings - Bridging the Thames" has made a number of recommendations and in particular, Recommendation 4 provides a mechanism for funding repair of London's bridges.    https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/1312_-_transport_-_londons_river_crossings_-_bridging_the_thames.pdf

London’s river crossings: Bridging the Thames – Transport Committee

November 2021

Recommendations

Recommendation 1

The Committee recommends that the speed and volume of road traffic should form a part of the reporting on the maintenance needs and costs for existing crossings. Options should be laid out for how maintenance can be made more affordable by means of controlling speed or volume of traffic, particularly for heavy vehicles.

Recommendation 2

TfL, the Government and all impacted boroughs should consider formalising the Thames River Crossing Coordination Group overseeing the maintenance of river crossings in London. This formalised group would publish relevant documents and papers relating to its work, which would provide greater transparency and accountability on the management and maintenance of river crossings in London.

Recommendation 3

TfL, the Government and all impacted boroughs that wish to opt-in should consider having a collective fund for maintenance of the relevant river crossings in London, into which all the relevant asset owners would contribute. This would allow for a more planned and transparent maintenance and investment plan for London’s river crossings.

Recommendation 4

The Government should devolve London´s portion of VED, currently worth around £500 million, to TfL and make national roads funding schemes available to London boroughs, on the same basis as other English Local Authorities. This would allow a portion of the funding to be spent on the future maintenance of London´s river crossings, as well as dealing with London´s £241 million bridge maintenance backlog.

Recommendation 5

TfL and other asset owners in London should publish an annual report on the condition of river crossings in London, showing the need for maintenance, scheduled maintenance over the coming years and any capital projects that are planned