Scrapped!
Plan for garden bridge with 2,000 plants binned... but it’s already cost you £40m
‘Mr Johnson must be held responsible’
The controversial plan to build a ‘garden bridge’ across the Thames in London has been scrapped – after being lavished with £40million of taxpayers’ cash.
Plans for the crossing – championed by Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley and backed by former London mayor Boris Johnson – had been beset by claims of spiralling costs.
Yesterday, supporters of the scheme finally conceded defeat and closed down the charity set up to build and run the proposed pedestrian bridge, which would have been planted with 270 trees and more than 2,000 shrubs.
It had already sustained a mortal blow in April when Sadiq Khan, Mr Johnson’s Labour successor, refused to provide any more guarantees for the costly crossing.
Mr Johnson yesterday said it was ‘so sad’ that Mr Khan had ‘killed it out of spite’. But the current London mayor blamed his predecessor – the current Foreign Secretary – for the waste of cash, calling it a ‘Boris vanity project’. earlier this year an inquiry found that Mr Johnson – who backed the plans in 2013 – had failed to ensure contracts were properly tendered or that it provided good value for money.
Dame Margaret hodge, former chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said the proposed crossing between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges should be ditched as it was ‘difficult to justify further public investment’.
Originally expected to hit £60million, the expected bill had risen to more than £200million. At least £37million of taxpayers’ money had already been spent on developing plans, including cash from the Department for Transport. Costs included preparing planning applications, consultations, surveys and investigations as well as securing licences. Former Prime Minister David Cameron even intervened to ensure an extra £23million of public money was funnelled into the scheme.
Yesterday, the Garden Bridge Trust said it was a ‘ sad day for London’. Mr Johnson said: ‘So sad Sadiq Khan has killed garden bridge and wasted so much time and money. Labour has no vision for London and no ambition. The garden bridge was a beautiful project and could have been easily financed. The Labour mayor claimed to support it but killed it out of spite because it was not initiated in his period of office.
‘I would also like to thank especially the donors and trustees who persevered for so long. Indeed TFL has spent £10million in the last year on the strength of those assurances.’ Critics argued it was wrong that so much should be spent in an overcrowded section of London already well served by bridges. In her report, Dame Margaret said the tendering process, under which Thomas heatherwick’s design team was chosen and engineering firm Arup picked to lead construction, was ‘not open, fair or competitive’.
‘Ultimately the then mayor, Boris Johnson, must be held responsible for this,’ she added. ‘The project has already used £37.4million of public money and the agreed underwriting by the Government of costs could bring the bill to the taxpayer up to £46.4million if the project is cancelled.’
Mr Khan said in April he would not support the plan as it would leave taxpayers in the capital at risk of higher bills. Yesterday he said: ‘It’s my duty to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent responsi- bly.’ Garden Bridge Trust Chairman Lord Mervyn Davies said: ‘We are incredibly sad that we have not been able to make the dream of the garden bridge a reality and that the mayor does not feel able to continue with the support he initially gave us.’
Although the bridge was the brainchild of Miss Lumley, a spokesman for the star said she would not be commenting.