Boris Johnson's £200m 'utopian' city project that ended in misery

The Garden Bridge metropolis would person outgo astir £200 cardinal (Image: City of London)

Boris Johnson’s task to physique a span crossed the Thames ended successful misery, with millions of payer pounds wasted.

The Garden Bridge was imagined by Joanna Lumley successful 1998 arsenic a “floating paradise” memorial for Princess Diana and picked up successful 2012 by then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

The pedestrian-only span was to beryllium filled with trees and shrubs, hedging plants and climbers, perennials, ferns and grasses, and bulbs.

It was meant to link the Temple conduit presumption connected Arundel Street to South Bank by the ITV London Studios, betwixt Waterloo Bridge and Southwark Bridge.

In 2013, Johnson threw his value down the project, squashed objections and committed millions of nationalist wealth to the venture.

The span was backed by Boris Johnson and axed by Sadiq Khan (Image: Getty)

City AM said of the project: “Garden Bridge was meant to person the utopian charm befitting a metropolis inactive successful a authorities of euphoria aft London’s 2012 Olympic triumph. Most importantly, it was then-London politician Boris Johnson’s babe and not (repeat NOT) a vanity project.”

Originally expected to outgo £60 million, estimates swelled to £200 million. Along with £140 cardinal of privately raised money, the span would person been funded by £30 cardinal from Transport for London and £30 milllion from the Department for Transport.

Its operation would besides person required the felling of mature trees connected some sides of the river, including 28 level trees connected Queen's Walk, which were planted successful the 1960s arsenic a surviving memorial to London's warfare dead.

There were already 9 bridges successful the 2 miles betwixt Westminster Bridge and London Bridge.

The span was projected to beryllium unfastened from 6am to midnight, with closures for 12 backstage commercialized events per twelvemonth to rise funds for its maintenance, up to £3.5 million.

But successful 2016, enactment connected the span was halted earlier gathering ever began and the caller Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced a ceremonial reappraisal into the task and its worth for money.

The consequent study by Margaret Hodge MP was highly captious of the plan, its cost, the hazard to nationalist funds, its deficiency of worth for money, its unpopularity and its purpose.

The failed Garden Bridge task was scrapped by Khan owed to concerns astir its fiscal viability. The readying enactment outgo £53 cardinal - £43 cardinal of which was nationalist money.