River Thames Garden Bridge plans scrapped by London mayor Sadiq Khan

Plans for the River Thames Garden Bridge were scrapped today by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who withdrew his support for the new pedestrian crossing.

In a major blow, Khan said that he was not willing to risk taxpayers’ money any further, effectively pulling the plug on the controversial project.

In a letter to the Garden Bridge Trust, the charity leading the much-delayed project, Khan wrote:

“The funding gap is now at over £70m and it appears unlikely that the trust will succeed in raising the private funds required for the project,” he said.

“I am simply not prepared to risk a situation where the taxpayer has to step in and contribute significant additional amounts to ensure the project is completed.”

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Although Khan does not have the power to bin the scheme entirely, withdrawing his support means that construction cannot go ahead.

Khan’s letter to the chairman of the bridge trust, Lord Mervyn Davies, said that City Hall would not be providing operations or maintenance guarantees.

This means that the project will not meet planning conditions for Lambeth and Westminster councils. so building cannot start on the crossing between Temple and the South Bank.

The moves follows a review into the financial viability of the bridge, which recommended scrapping it entirely.

The report by Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said it would be ‘difficult to justify’ spending any more public money, considering the ‘precarious’ state of the Garden Bridge Trust’s finances.

Hodge found that the original budget of £60 million was likely to top £200 million. The report concluded that there was a gap of at least £70 million after major donors dropped out and limited private pledges were secured.

£37.4 million of public funds were spent on the bridge without any building work actually taking place.