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South London councillors rebel against £175m ‘garden bridge’ plans

A group of councillors are demanding renewed scrutiny of the decision to build a £175m garden bridge across the River Thames.

The proposals, led by Mayor of London Boris Johnson MP, are facing competition from councillors in Lambeth, the local authority on which land the south side of the construction will be built.

According to the Guardian, the leader of Lambeth council, Lib Peck, has been accused of ‘allowing no oversight of accountability in giving the land in one of London’s most busy tourist districts to the Garden Bridge Trust (GBT).“

Labour mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan has already said he would scrap the plans to build the controversial bridge stretching from South Bank to Temple if he is elected.

The bridge, which would feature 270 trees and thousands of other plants, has secured £60m public funding, including £30m from Department of Transport and the other £30m from Transport for London (TfL), £20m of which is a loan repayable over 50 years.

Work on the structure was initially due to start in the new year, but is now planned to commence in the spring.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .