Robin9 wrote:

'Recliner[_3_ Wrote:
;156717']From:
http://tinyurl.com/zvmm6lr

Extract:

The future of London’s proposed garden bridge has been called into
further
question after the city’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, halted preparatory
work on
the structure over fears this could involve more public money being
spent.

Khan officially backs the plan for the 367-metre tree- and plant-filled
bridge, but only on the condition that no more public funding is made
available for its construction. So far, £60m of public money has been
committed to the £175m structure.

Part of the initial work has involved London Underground strengthening
the
structure of Temple tube station by the Thames so the north end of the
bridge could sit on top of it. Transport for London’s (TfL) finance
and
policy committee had been due on Friday to formally approve £3m in
extra
spending on this, but Khan has ordered a halt so the funding can be
examined by the committee, according to the Architects’ Journal.

It comes just over a week after the National Audit Office announced it
was
investigating another element of the public funding for the bridge –
the
£30m of £60m given by the Department for Transport. Separately, the
Charity
Commission is looking into the spending of the Garden Bridge Trust,
which
is behind the project.

The trust was due to repay the £3m for the work at Temple tube, so it
is
possible the work will begin again. However, Khan’s decision both
risks
delaying completion of a project due to open in 2018, and illustrates
how
less sympathetic the new mayor is to the Thomas Heatherwick-designed
bridge
than his predecessor, Boris Johnson.

.... Continues

Very strange. Just two weeks ago, Mr. Khan was saying
that completing the project would provide the taxpayer with
better value for money than cancelling it as £40 million had
already been spent.

I note this report says £60 million has been "committed" so far.
What is the difference between the £40 million spent and the
£60 million committed?

I wonder how they've managed to spend so much already? Has much work been
done on the ground? Have any materials been ordered or components
fabricated? Or has the expense just been on the design and architecture
work?

I don't think Khan is actually a fan of the project, but is probably trying
to devise a way of getting out of it without TfL getting dumped with a big
cancellation charge. By freezing TfL's contribution he either offloads the
cost increases on to the bridge's supporters, or forces them to be the ones
to cancel it, letting TfL off the hook. Either way, he gets to dump the
blame on Boris for his sloppy management of the contract.