Garden bridge over the Thames

Glad he has saw sense - there is more need to fix and properly maintain existing bridges such as Hammersmith Bridge first!

 

I thought it was a reasonable idea but I'm pretty sure that lots of people have jumped in trying to make a profit out of it. The cost is way beyond what it should cost so that's what has killed it.

 

Apart from the fact that it's projected to, now, cost over 200 million (the way it has escalated to that already makes me think that it will end up costing nearer a billion) there are a number of problems with funding and costing.

That's without all the problems that look as though they may be raised about how the builders and architects were chosen from the 'bidding' procedure. Apparently the system used awarded points for different parts of the bids and the best total 'won' the bid. After someone got hold of the list of points awarded there are now serious questions to be answered about how the result was reached. (Notice I haven't said anything with the words 'fiddled', 'backhanders', 'influence' etc. in them.)

Nothing has been started, no building even put into a timeline, planning permissions are not through yet and they have already spent £32 million.

I'm also curious about who taught Joanna her maths.

The current projection for costs is over 200 million. The newspaper article says that £30 million was from DfT, £30 million from TfL and £60 million from the government. That totals £120 million. Leaving at least £80 million outstanding. Simples?

Population of the UK is approx. 65 million. so 32p per man, woman and child would total just under 21 million. So @Tetters, they're going to need your fiver!

The project could still continue if the organisers were able to raise the rest of the money - as they originally said that they would. Of course, when they said that, the cost was going to be much lower.

Sadiq Khan has only said he would not guarantee the money, past what was originally promised. What he is not prepared to do is to guarantee on-costs for the maintenance and repair for the future - which is predicted to run into millions each year.

 

It started off, I'm sure, as a good idea but then organisations take over and, as I said, everyone saw it as a money maker. If the proposed cost is £200 million then, for planting a bridge, that is already there, crossing over a river, it's way out of proportion..........
The RHS is building a new 163 acre garden at Worsley New Hall in Manchester, and the cost of the purchase of the land, a new bridge over a canal to take lorries working on the site, new buildings, a garden centre, a 11 acre walled garden, clearance of the old site, new landscaping and replanting of the whole area consisting of hundreds of thousands of plants.....will cost around £160 Million over the next 10 years. Now that is value for money.

 

The fact that £32 million has been squandered on this project so far, merely spent on 'thinking about it' is an utter disgrace, and goes to demonstrate all that is wrong with the way that our country is governed.

Yes, it is a nice idea - in the same way that me paying to have Elle MacPherson gyrate naked in my living room is a nice idea - only likely to happen where sufficient funds allow.

How many homes would that £32 million build?

What really makes me laugh, is that our media and the political luvvies criticise the likes of Russia - yet here we are in 2017 with roads, water and sewerage infrastructure that are Donald Ducked, we have hospitals that cannot cope with the sheer numbers of people, and we have GP surgeries closing at a time when they are most needed - yeah, we are great compared to Russia...... NOT!