The Garden Bridge project has been scrapped after losing the backing of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and continual struggle to find private funding to cover the costs of construction and maintenance of the project.

After a financial report commissioned by the Mayor and conducted by Dame Margaret Hodge on the funding of the project came to some damning conclusions about the costs and value for money on the taxpayer, the Mayor withdrew public funding with concerns over the £37million of public money that had already been spent.

The Garden Bridge was an ambitious project and visualisations of the proposed bridge connected Temple on the north side and the South Bank, with 270 trees and thousands of plants lining the public walkway. Its creation was to be both a transport link, tourist site, and event location with hopes of it becoming a new icon in the London skyline that could benefit the local London community.

The project initially had £60million of public money pledged by then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne and was supported by former Mayor Boris Johnson, but it failed to accrue the greater amount required through beneficiaries in the private sector as donations stalled in 2016. This was despite having having high profile support from actress Joanna Lumley.

The subsequent maintenance plan failed to convince Dame Hodge that there was a capable financial structure in place to sustain the bridge, with many costs likely to fall on the taxpayer.

In a letter to the Mayor, Mervyn Davies the Chairman of the trust in charge of the Garden Bridge, has announced the end of the project due to lack of support from the Mayor. He has expressed disappointment that a ‘showcase for the best of British talent’ cannot go ahead and become a space ‘free to use and open to all’.