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Garden Bridge

The Garden Bridge project was an unsuccessful private proposal for a pedestrian bridge over the River Thames in London, England.[1] Originally an idea of Joanna Lumley,[2] and strongly supported by then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson,[3] the designer Thomas Heatherwick worked with Arup Group on a proposal by Transport for London (TfL) for a new bridge across the Thames between Waterloo Bridge[4] and Blackfriars Bridge. The proposed concrete, steel, cupronickel clad structure was intended to carry pedestrians, with no cycles or other vehicles. It was to have been located some 200 metres (660 ft) from Waterloo Bridge and 300 m (980 ft) from Blackfriars Bridge, and have included some areas of planting. The project was to include a commercial building, built on former green space at the southern end of the bridge. The bridge was intended to be funded by raising over £140 million of private money (including taxpayer funding through charitable gift aid) and £60 million of promised public money, of which £30m was from Transport for London (£20m of this to be repaid over 55 years) and £30m from the Department for Transport, adding up to projected funding of over £200m.[5] In January 2017, the trustees of the prospective owner of the bridge, the Garden Bridge Trust, stated that costs would "substantially exceed" an earlier revised total of £185m and, in April 2017, a report by Margaret Hodge MP concluded, on the basis of the Garden Bridge Trust's own evidence, that the cost would be over £200m.[6]

This article is about the proposed bridge in London. For the bridge in China, see Waibaidu Bridge. For the bridge in Staffordshire, see Garden bridge, Shugborough.

Garden Bridge proposal

Footpath

Clad concrete

366 metres (1,201 ft)

30 metres (98 ft) (max, width varies)

three

Arup
Detailed design by COWI A/S (formerly Flint & Neill)

Never started

over £200 million (estimate April 2017)

Never opened: project abandoned before building work began

If built, it was proposed that the bridge would have been open from 6am to midnight, with closures for the preparation for and holding of up to 12 private commercial events per year to raise funds for its maintenance.[7] A planning condition required annual maintenance costs to be guaranteed by a third party and it was expected that this would be the Greater London Authority. The annual maintenance costs were variously estimated at between £2m and £3.5m, before allowing for the repayment of loan capital and interest.[8]


In July 2016, preparatory work for the bridge was halted and the Garden Bridge Trust put contractors on standby to allow for a financial review and because they had not cleared outstanding issues such as securing legal rights to the land on either side of the river, despite signing a contract for construction of the bridge in January 2016. In September 2016, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, announced a formal review by Margaret Hodge of the procurement processes in relation to the bridge project and its value for money.[9] In October 2016, the National Audit Office reported on procurement issues and perceived value for money for that part of the cost of the project which was being met by funds (£30m) from the Department for Transport. In January 2017, the trustees of the Garden Bridge Trust (the limited company behind the project) said they were unable to conclude that the trust was a going concern.[6] In February 2017, the Charity Commission for England and Wales found the financial management of the trust to be satisfactory, albeit with criticisms as to the trustees' approach.[10] The subsequent report by Margaret Hodge MP was highly critical of the plan, its procurement, its cost, the risk to public funds, and lack of value for money.[11]


The Garden Bridge Trust formally announced on 14 August 2017 that it would be ending the project and that the Garden Bridge Trust itself would be wound up in accordance with the Companies Acts.[12] The failed project cost £53m, including £43m of public money.[13]

Ownership[edit]

The Garden Bridge Trust, a registered charity (charity registration number 1155246)[14] and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, and with an exemption from use of the term "Limited",[15][16] was to own the bridge, as private space in the public realm. The company was incorporated on 30 October 2013 under reference 08755461.[17][18] Lord Davies of Abersoch is chairman of the trust and a director of the limited company.[15][18]

Operation[edit]

In November 2014, it was claimed that the bridge would be off limits to groups of eight or more people and to cyclists.[28] The Garden Bridge Trust later said that groups of eight or more would not be banned and cyclists would be allowed to use the bridge, if they were to dismount and push their cycles.[7]


The bridge would have been open to the public for 18 hours each day, closing between midnight and 6am.[29] The draft business plan[30] allowed the Garden Bridge Trust to close the bridge for up to 12 days a year for commercial events. Further, the charity proposed to rent the rooftop of the bridge's South Bank landing podium for commercial purposes on every weekend between May and October.[26]


Nine bridges already span the two miles (3.2 km) between Westminster Bridge and London Bridge, seven of which can be crossed on foot. Projections of visitor numbers suggested that the bridge would have added another 3.5 million visitors a year, an 18% increase on 2014 numbers.[31] In 2014, critics of the project began campaigning to have it brought under judicial review or another appeal process through the secretary of state.[32]


In November 2015, planning documents for the bridge revealed that public access to the bridge was to be controlled, including the use of the tracking of visitors' mobile phone signals to guard against overcrowding, a video surveillance system and security staff known as "visitor hosts" who would have limited policing powers under a Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, including the right to issue fines. The rules of the bridge were to prohibit "any exercise other than jogging, playing a musical instrument, taking part in a 'gathering of any kind', giving a speech or address, scattering ashes, releasing a balloon and flying a kite."[33] The bridge's private owners claimed that conditions would be "similar" to those of the Royal Parks.[34]


At a meeting at City Hall on 17 December 2015, Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London said, in defence of the project, "It's important that we don't rest on our laurels, but continue to adorn the city with things that will attract visitors … and to get it done within a four-year mayoralty is a very challenging thing."[35] During the 2016–2017 review conducted by Dame Margaret Hodge for the Mayor of London, the only parties to express support for the bridge were Boris Johnson, the Garden Bridge Trust (the prospective owner of the bridge) itself and the Evening Standard while, on the other hand, "hostility" to the bridge was "substantial".[11]

Planning process[edit]

Initial planning approval[edit]

The full planning applications for the project were submitted to Westminster and Lambeth Councils on 30 May 2014, and it was originally intended, subject to receiving planning permission and raising the necessary funds, that construction of the bridge would start in 2015 and be completed by 2018.[60][61] The planning application was approved by Lambeth Council (local authority on the south side of the bridge), subject to conditions, in November 2014.[62] Westminster City Council passed a plan for the bridge on 2 December 2014 by a vote of three to one.[63] In December 2014, Boris Johnson approved the scheme to build the bridge, with construction then expected to start in 2015.[64]

Judicial review[edit]

In January 2015, a legal challenge of Lambeth's planning permission was brought by Michael Ball, former director of the Waterloo Community Development Group, with the support of local opposition group Thames Central Open Spaces. On 21 April 2015, permission was granted by The Hon. Mr Justice Ouseley for a full judicial review of Lambeth's decision to grant planning permission on the grounds that the impact of views on heritage assets (particularly Somerset House) had not been properly considered, and Lambeth had not adequately ensured the ongoing maintenance of the bridge.[65] However, it was agreed the case should be dismissed after Lambeth and the trust agreed to enter into a planning obligation requiring the trust to submit a plan for the maintenance of the bridge for approval by the Council, and to provide a surety or guarantor for the trust's ongoing maintenance obligations.[66] The Greater London Authority has guaranteed the maintenance costs.


A second judicial review, of Lambeth's decision to allow a variation of the lease on the South Bank, was dismissed in September 2016.[67]

Lease and permission[edit]

On 25 September 2015, Lambeth Council suspended negotiations with the Garden Bridge Trust over the terms of the lease, which would be required at the South Bank end of the bridge. Lambeth's position was that funds for the bridge should not be provided by Transport for London, that the £30m of funding from Transport for London was not justified, and that Lambeth would permit the bridge only if it was assured that the project's funds would not be taken from Transport for London. Negotiations were resolved in November 2015.[68]


However, in March 2016 it was reported that Lambeth Council had put the necessary lease modifications in place. Permission from the Coin Street Community Builders, a housing trust which holds a long-term lease over part of the land needed to construct the southern approaches, was also required for the bridge's construction. In March 2016, in "a last ditch" attempt to stop the bridge, local politicians wrote to the housing trust urging it to refuse permission, although the housing trust indicated that it was not in a position to oppose the decisions of elected governments.[69]


The planning permission for the bridge had been due to expire in December 2017.[6]

Project collapse[edit]

Hodge report[edit]

Margaret Hodge's report for the Mayor of London[11] was published in April 2017. It found that: there had been multiple failings from the start; the business case for construction of the bridge was weak; the purpose of the bridge was confused and unclear; the Garden Bridge Trust had raised only £69m in private pledges of funding; the final cost if built would now exceed £200m of capital expenditure, excluding the amount of any possible endowment for maintenance; the project was controversial and unpopular and the Garden Bridge Trust was unlikely to be able to raise the money, and that taxpayers should accept the loss of public money already spent that would result from cancelling the project and avoid further waste of public funds.[70] She also concluded[71] that the appointments in 2013 of Heatherwick Studio (for design and consulting services) and Arup (for engineering and project management services) "were not open, fair or competitive procurements … and [her review had] revealed systematic failures and ineffective control systems at many levels".[72] Architecture critic Rowan Moore described the project as "a landmark of the post-truth era" and a vanity project by Boris Johnson.[73]

Refusal of mayoral guarantee[edit]

In response to the Hodge report, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Johnson's successor, announced on 28 April 2017 that he would not provide a guarantee for the future running costs of the bridge, due to concerns about the project's financial viability. Since the guarantee was a condition of planning permission, the mayor's refusal had the effect of ending the project.[74][75]

Formal abandonment[edit]

On 14 August 2017 after months of uncertainty the Garden Bridge Trust entirely abandoned the project. The BBC London transport correspondent Tom Edwards described the situation as a shambles which was "an embarrassing mess for the capital ... already descend[ing] into finger pointing and a blame game over who is culpable for wasting £46.4m of public money".[75] In February 2019 it was revealed that the total public cost had been £43m.[13]

in the Evening Standard

Interview with Heatherwick

Thames Central Open Spaces