One of the most ambitious landscaping projects of recent times is being thrown into doubt over an investigation into the business strategy of the Trust in charge.

Dame Margaret Hodge was asked to conduct a review of the project by the London Mayor Saddiq Khan in October 2016 over cost concerns.

Findings of the report:

In the report published in April 2017, Dame Margaret concluded that:

  •  Decisions on the Garden Bridge were driven more by electoral cycles than value for taxpayers’ money.
  • The costs have escalated from an early estimate of £60m to over £200m today
  • The risk to the taxpayer has intensified. The original ambition to fund the Garden Bridge through private finance has been abandoned. The Garden Bridge Trust has lost two major private donors and has pledges of £69million with no new pledges secured since August 2016. With a public sector contribution of £60 million, that leaves a gap in capital funding of at least £70 million.  Furthermore, very little progress has been made on raising money to fund the ongoing maintenance of a completed bridge.
  • There was not an open, fair and competitive process around the two TfL procurements for the Garden Bridge Project. The two procurements revealed systemic failures and ineffective control systems at many levels.
  • The Garden Bridge Trust’s finances are in a precarious state and many outstanding risks remain unresolved

How did the Trust respond?

The Garden Bridge Trust responsible for managing project has responded to the report published. Lord Davies commented:

“It is a shame that Dame Margaret has shown disregard for the facts and been selective in her use of evidence to support her own opinions. The Trustees’ focus remains on the future of the bridge, and the great benefits it will bring to Londoners and visitors alike. That future is now in the hands of the Mayor. Our message to him is that this report, with its many errors and ill-informed opinions, is no basis upon which to take decisions about a project that has been through the complex democratic processes by which decisions on development are made in this city.”

Criticisms of Hodge include:

  • lack of new donors was down to uncertainty caused by the commission of the report
  • Hodge did not fully investigate fundraising efforts
  • Hodge did not properly engage with local people for feedback of their views

What’s the outcome?

Saddiq Khan withdrew support of the Garden Bridge in a letter posted on 28th April 2017 after £40m of public money has been committed to the project with just over £37m of that spent before any work has begun. He agreed with Dame Margaret Hodge’s assessment that continual involvement with the project would expose London taxpayers to great financial risk both in regard to construction and maintenance of the project.

His assessment was based on three factors:

  • Land agreements between councils had not be confirmed on the South Bank
  • Capital fundraising relied on public money. The majority of funds were raised through public money rather than private, and no solid strategy for continually raising money to fund ongoing construction had been made. The risk of having to complete construction on a bridge may land with TfL or GLA should private donations run out.
  • Lack of operation and maintenance guarantees.

 

Without the public support of this project it unlikely to continue.