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    Failed London Garden Bridge project cost £53m Archived Message

    Posted by spike on February 13, 2019, 5:52 pm

    Another glorious circle jerk. This one's so bad even Margaret Hodge called it out as a scam, although I'm sure if she'd thought of it her opinion might be different. 'The Questions won't stop here' says the BBC bod tasked with covering this. Yes they will Tom, yes they will.

    ...............


    Failed London Garden Bridge project cost £53m

    A failed plan to build a bridge covered with trees and flowers over the River Thames in central London cost a total of £53m, it has been revealed.

    A Transport for London (TfL) inquiry showed the Garden Bridge Trust spent £161,000 on a website and £417,000 on a gala for the abandoned project.

    The design of the bridge cost more than £9m and the charity paid its executives £1.7m.

    Around £43m came from the public's pocket, TfL added.

    Doubts began to surround the project, overseen by Boris Johnson, after it lost the support of London Mayor Sadiq Khan in April 2017.

    It was officially abandoned in August of that year after a review recommended it be scrapped.



    In July 2015, up to £60m of public funding was made available to the trust - £30m each from Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT).

    TfL will now pay a final £5.5m of public money to the trust as part of the scheme's cancellation agreement, which the transport body said was 40% lower than what it could have been.

    The payout will help refund donors including £3,200 to the winner of a Garden Bridge auction prize who did not receive their promised game of "table tennis with Boris Johnson".



    Analysis by BBC London transport correspondent, Tom Edwards

    This was the tiara on the Thames that lost its shine and then died.

    The project promised a lot but delivered nothing, swallowing £43m of public money in the process.

    The biggest expenditure was the £21m contract to build the bridge - with campaigners still wanting to know why that was allowed when land had not even been secured.

    There is an incredible amount of detail in the recent Transport for London report: it cost £161k for a website and £417k for a gala fundraiser.

    Critics say the spending was gratuitous. And while many wanted the bridge, others did not. The questions won't stop here.


    Caroline Pidgeon, chair of the London Assembly's transport committee, said: "The details of wasted money spent on the Garden Bridge project is the final confirmation of the utter folly of the project.

    "The Garden Bridge Trust have squandered public money in a way no responsible charity should have behaved.

    "No charity needs to spend £160,000 on a website or over £400,000 on a gala dinner."


    The idea of a "floating paradise" as a memorial to Princess Diana was suggested by Joanna Lumley as far back as 1998

    The plan gathered momentum in 2012 and the following year then mayor Boris Johnson supported the scheme, pledging that TfL would help deliver it. It was also backed by then chancellor George Osborne

    Planning permission was granted in 2014

    The scheme has been beset by problems over its funding and lacked support from some residents
    In September 2016, Sadiq Khan ordered a review to find out if value for money was being achieved

    In October 2016, the National Audit Office revealed David Cameron ignored the advice of his own civil servants not to provide further taxpayer funds to the Garden Bridge Trust because of the risks of it not going ahead

    In January 2017, accounts filed with Companies House showed a £56m shortfall in the trust's accounts

    In April, Dame Margaret Hodge concluded it would be better to ditch the project rather than risk uncertain costs

    Following this report, Mr Khan withdrew his support

    In December 2017, Mr Johnson was called before the London Assembly to give evidence on the project's failure

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