Boris Johnson to be grilled by committee over failed Garden Bridge project

Former mayor of London Boris Johnson is set to finally appear before London Assembly members to answer questions on what led to the construction of Garden Bridge being abandoned.

Plans for a £200m footbridge across the Thames linking Temple and South Bank were backed by Sadiq Khan’s predecessor, at an estimated cost of £37m to the taxpayer, without a spade going into the ground. The project was scrapped in August last year when Khan said he would not provide guarantees for the planned bridge because it would leave taxpayers in the capital at risk of higher bills.

It followed a scathing report by Dame Margaret Hodge that recommended ditching the proposed Thames crossing because it was "difficult to justify further public investment" in the bridge. Some £60m of the £200m needed had been pledged through public funding, but only £69m of private funding had been promised, leaving a gap of £70m, according to the report. 

"The former mayor did not participate in the Hodge review of the Garden Bridge project and we believe only part of the story was told." 
Len Duvall, chair of the GLA oversight committee.

Johnson did not participate in the Hodge review but now assembly powers granted via the London Authority Act have been enforced for the Foreign secretary to appear on 1 March at City Hall. It is the first time the legal instrument has been used on a former London mayor.

Len Duvall, chair of Greater London Authority’s oversight committee, has today said Johnson must appear in order to give a "full and complete account" of why so much money was spent on the project.

"I’m very glad the foreign secretary has responded positively to our summons,” Duvall added. “The former mayor did not participate in the Hodge review of the Garden Bridge project and we believe only part of the story was told, when he appeared before us in December 2015. Dame Margaret did not have the power to formally require the former mayor to give evidence, however the assembly does have that statutory power. It is important that he gives us a full and complete account of how so much money was spent on a project that was abandoned, at great cost to the London taxpayer."