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The Garden Bridge as envisioned by Heatherwick StudioGarden Bridge to undergo full judicial review
A judge has ruled that Lambeth council may have ignored potential funding gaps and omitted other information in granting planning permission for the Garden Bridge, reports The Guardian. The Garden Bridge Trust insists that construction work must begin by the end of the year to avoid a clash with the Thames Tideway Tunnel, but the project’s fate now hinges on a judicial review, which is likely to be heard in the High Court in June.
The legal challenge was brought by Michael Ball, a former director of Waterloo Community Development Group (WCDG), a community planning organisation. Ball says that some of the best views of the City and St Paul’s Cathedral will be compromised by the proposed £175m bridge and Mr David Forsdick QC, acting on his behalf, said that maintenance and funding issues needed to be addressed before the bridge could be built.
Mr Justice Ouseley apparently agreed, ruling that Lambeth may have ignored potential funding gaps while omitting that should the Garden Bridge Trust go bankrupt, the public sector would have to pick up the maintenance bill. In this regard, he reserved specific criticism for Boris Johnson, accusing the mayor of making statements on the subject that could be understood “neither in terms of English, nor of what Mr Johnson intended”.
“The maintenance cost will not be borne by the public sector, I’ve made that clear,” Johnson told LBC radio. Yet in a letter from one of his senior staff to the Garden Bridge Trust, which has been seen by the Guardian, it seems that the public will be liable for the bridge’s annual £3.5m maintenance bill – this on top of an initial £60m towards construction costs. Furthermore, with only £65m raised from donations, the Garden Bridge Trust is still £50m short of construction costs at this point.
Joanna Lumley says that she is the person responsible for the decision to exclude cyclists from the proposed Garden Bridge, arguing that their presence would prevent it from being ‘a peaceful place to walk’. The bridge will also be closed between midnight and 6am with groups of more than eight people having to apply for permission to visit.
In contrast, a new bridge across the Thames which has been proposed a little way downstream will be designed with cyclists in mind. The 74 teams from around the world who entered a design competition for the bridge linking Nine Elms and Pimlico were explicitly asked to provide ‘a smooth and safe experience for the pedestrians and cyclists who use it’.
The submissions have now been whittled down to a shortlist of four. Wandsworth Council expects to announce the winning design this autumn. A study by Transport for London found that there was a strong transport case for providing a new crossing over the Thames in this area and the bridge is therefore intended to be a transport route, not a tourist attraction.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 2 sec ago
As noted the problem is mixing modes again. No driveways, no need for drivers in a hurry to cross footways or cycle paths. No problem!...
- jaymack 16 min 49 sec ago
If you're exercising in the heat you need to drink more, who knew? Try 50% water/50% pineapple juice and a pinch of salt, it's nearly as satisfying...
- Homebaker 57 min 5 sec ago
Oh you can't block roads, what if I need to drive my elderly aunt to the emergency hospital, and even though there are better routes, I want to go...
- chrisonabike 2 hours 24 min ago
Tier scooters - When visiting Keynsham I found several apparently dumped (not all at once - could have been the same ones? )...
- mdavidford 2 hours 28 min ago
The answer to this is to have no friends.
- Backladder 4 hours 22 min ago
While original sash windows are nice they make it very hard to keep the house warm, we eventually went for upvc double glazed sash window...
- Andrewbanshee 5 hours 45 min ago
As you said the pedals will be hidden anyway. My shoes, 3 pairs of them, have reflective strips on the heel and my winter trousers do too on the...
- Steve K 5 hours 46 min ago
Other drivers only care about disabled people when it gives them a way to object to cycling infrastructure.
- mark1a 13 hours 49 min ago
I'll put you down as a no then.
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13 comments
As I think Goldsmith could win this is depressing news if you are in London and a tax payer in general
Rachel Humphreys @rachel_hump
Zac Goldsmith tells @LBC he backs the Garden Bridge but admits he hasn't looked at all the details yet "instinctively I like it" #LBCdebate
Really? Why did she explicitly want cycle tracks included then?
http://www.itv.com/news/london/2015-02-04/handwritten-note-from-joanna-l...
I hope the project dies on it's arse.
I like gardens and I like bridges, they both have a purpose. Neither has anything to do with the other. Which loonies decided a "garden bridge" was needed and then made such a ham-fisted plan for making it happen?
The whole thing should have been laughed out at the planning application stage.
Reminds me of Mrs Doyle's Cake Jumper.
£175M for that ??? Jeez I knew the idea was mad and corrupt but not that much ...
I do hope this doesn't get built. If it did it would become a privately owned bridge funded by the tax-payer, which is just plain wrong, even before the lost views, lack of access to cyclists and groups etc.
The article mentions the contrast between the lack of utility of the 'urban parsley' garnished 'Garden' Bridge, and the potential benefits (to non-motorists) of the proposed new bridge at Nine Elms.
One contrast which is not mentioned is the typically appalling attitude of Westminster council. They approved the proposal for a publicly-funded, privately owned space in the form of the 'Garden' Bridge (hey, I guess it doesn't wreck the views on THEIR side of the river), but are trying to block the much more useful Nine Elms bridge - wouldn't want those riff-raff non-drivers to have easier access to their turf, eh?
https://labourwestminster.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/westminster-labour-an...
Incidentally, there is a crowd-funding page set up for anyone interested to chip in for the costs of the judicial review:
http://www.everyclick.com/tcos
Hope the project folds when Boris leaves as Mayor. Dreadful project, in a place well served by bridges, when there's a crying need for bridges upstream and downstream. Privatises a bit of the river for corporate jollies, effectively.
And the absolutely worst bit for me, is that it will block the freely available view of the City from Waterloo Bridge, celebrated several times by Canaletto and by Wordsworth:
EARTH has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
That view is now going to be the damned 'Garden Bridge', for which you'll have to book a ticket to use. Another piece of useless expensive infrastructure like Boris's Dangleway.
The sooner this project dies the better IMO.
I like the idea of the garden bridge. I just don't like it being privately-owned, especially not when being in-part publicly funded, and access to it being privately controlled.
It is also crazy, in this day and age, to deliberately design major transport infrastructure to exclude cyclists. They just need to make it wide enough to include a separate cycle lane on one side or the other.
Me too, but it's an idea that should stay away from reality for a long time. It's carbon footprint would be huge. It would be horribly crowded and potentially unsafe. It would not look like the artists impressions, it'd likely look a bit pathetic, small thin trees etc. It's not wide enough, it ends in a ugly way - not meeting the ground at either end.
If it gets built the fantasy in the picture will not meet reality. I hope it doesn't get built.
Disappointingly I think I'm starting to agree with you and the views expressed by others. The more you pull the thread the more the idea unravels.
Now all we need to do is tie the Garden Bridge Trust up in the courts until the end of the year and the whole project dies a natural death.
Not counting chickens yet but I'm allowing myself to have a warm glow!
Even without the judicial review, it looks like they're really struggling to raise the construction costs. Given that there is now a notable public backlash against the project, the corporate sponsors that they needed seem to be backing off.