please empty your brain below
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Fantastic news - pity about the waste of money already. Love your tongue in cheek report DG. Back to Bow Road Station tomorrow?
Dave B | 15.08.17 - 7:04 a.m. | #
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Now, if only Boris had had the nous to have built the cable car there, it might be well on the way to covering its costs.
Marc | 15.08.17 - 7:07 a.m. | #
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What I will really miss is seeing pictures and reading about the glitzy corporate events that would have regulaltly taken place behind the bridge's sensibly locked gates. What better way could there have been to build the reputation of the bridge as an elevated oasis for all?
Waterhouse | 15.08.17 - 7:17 a.m. | #
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Surely the Chairman threw in his trowel, rather than a towel ! A towel could get caught up in the propellers of passing boats.
scrumpy | 15.08.17 - 7:17 a.m. | #
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Great piece though no doubt some right wing rag will quote you completely out of context and free of irony in an inevitable Mayor-bashing.
I cheered at the good news yesterday that my walk to and from work over Waterloo Bridge won't be blighted by this folly!
Joe | 15.08.17 - 7:17 a.m. | #
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What on earth could have cost that amount of money without even one brick being laid, I am fuming at the idiots who have allowed this fiasco to go as far as it did.
fishislandskin | 15.08.17 - 7:19 a.m. | #
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I'm hoping that it will turn out that the reason 45 million has been spent is that they already bought all the grey concrete.
My proposal is that they use this to quadruple the height of the Hayward gallery.
Dan | 15.08.17 - 7:19 a.m. | #
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Yes, and as I understand it, Mayor Khan quite rightly canned this project due to the astronomical additional costs of providing a third high level cycle way crossing that would have meandered through the leafy canopy.
One thought remains. Recently the view from Waterloo Bridge was mentioned as one of the top London attractions. I believe that it would have been enhanced replacing that of an old church increasingly marginalised by an ever encroaching forest of high rise office blocks.
Pedant point: Having worked in Temple and crossed Waterloo Bridge many, many times, it is five minutes extra, not four.
dg writes... Pedant point: I walked it yesterday and it took four. Perhaps we have different legs.
Ken | 15.08.17 - 7:31 a.m. | #
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Shouldn't that be 'precocious' Mayor?
Peter | 15.08.17 - 7:35 a.m. | #
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A single highpoint in a period of unremittingly depressing news.
The money wasted to date on this vanity project is an utter disgrace, but I sincerely hope that at some point in the future.. when ex-mayor Johnson is seeking (even) higher office.. this colossal waste is remembered and highlighted.
Frank F | 15.08.17 - 7:41 a.m. | #
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Looks like one of the the next projects will be the Camden High Line as my copy of the free newspaper The Kentishtowner states: https://www.kentishtowner.co.uk/2017/05/21/exclusive-camden-high-line-plans-revealed/
kissenme | 15.08.17 - 7:45 a.m. | #
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Perhaps we should call it the Boris Bridge, and sell postcards of the empty space.
I think a plaque is in order, £37 million of taxpayers money was wasted here on a Tory vanity project (clearly there is a magic money tree).
For balance there could be one for Gordon Brown's disastrous insistence on PPI for the tube upgrade.
Still anon | 15.08.17 - 7:47 a.m. | #
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At last,some good news. 👍🏻
Thanks for starting my day with some giggles.😂😂
Jo W | 15.08.17 - 7:54 a.m. | #
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Goodbye and good riddance. It should never have got as far as it did. Every time I saw the pictures of it, with a few people joyfully strolling on peace and tranquility, I just wanted to scream. It would never have been that. It would have been insanely busy, probably unable to cope with the crowds. And the cost was ridiculous.
What have they done with the money so far? It's time they explained themselves. Millions wasted and absolutely nothing to show.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 15.08.17 - 7:55 a.m. | #
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It's also a blow for innovative anti-terrorism measures, as the bridge would have led forward-thinking security features to keep us all safe, such as restricted (as in none at all) night-time access to high-profile areas and covert phone tracking, in preparation for a wider rollout.
And more people would have admired the underside than the 'garden' on a day to day basis. Few bridges are attractive from below, and those that are are normally not 100% concrete.
Can we now find out where the money has gone?
commonliner | 15.08.17 - 8:13 a.m. | #
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Yeah, blame everything on Sadiq Khan. Common sense took over IMO.
Boris could scrap the Thames Gateway Bridge, which was in the better location, and would help other negative factors that still exist in East London. But no, he could plan unneeded vanity like this that has no benefit on the basic living of public. Just go to Waterloo or Blackfriars, and we can't say something similar in East and South East London.
I'm sure if this garden bridge was built in Rotherhithe, Canary Wharf, Greenwich or Barking, Sadiq certainly wouldn't be scrapping it.
neyagness | 15.08.17 - 8:22 a.m. | #
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And will the poor saps who made donations to the bridge fund get their money back?
Richard | 15.08.17 - 8:30 a.m. | #
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Perhaps they just realised it had already been done:
http://chertsey130.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/the-garden-bridge.html
Sarah | Homepage | 15.08.17 - 8:36 a.m. | #
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Under the previous Mayor, TfL paid out £26,720,492 in grants to the Garden Bridge Trust.
» Breakdown of TfL funding
» Breakdown of all funding
diamond geezer | Homepage | 15.08.17 - 8:37 a.m. | #
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THE THAMES GARDEN BRIDGE DISASTER
by W.T.McGonagall
Beautiful Garden Bridge of the River Tha-
mes. Alas! I am very sorry to say
That the dreams of luvvies have been taken away
No more money will Londoners pay.
Oh! Ill-fated bridge o'er London's stream
The wond'rous Opening Ceremony would be something to dream
of, With lots of posh frocks and crowds so loyal
Some C-celebs and maybe even a minor Royal!
W.T.McGonagall | 15.08.17 - 8:45 a.m. | #
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Is there a detailed breakdown anywhere of who got paid how much and what they did for it? £37m is a lot of money for unexecuted plans.
The ultimate Boris vanity project was Brexit, purely a play in the effort for him to become the Dear Leader, and look how much good it did him. Thank heavens Gove stuck in the knife and doomed them both. May is so much better, isn't she.
Andrew | 15.08.17 - 8:55 a.m. | #
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Careful DG with this new writing style you're in danger of being poached by The Express or The Mail for their main leader writer.
| 15.08.17 - 9:10 a.m. | #
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But seriously, what on earth did they do with all that money? Was it all consultancy fees? And what will Joanna Lumley do now?
Alex Mckenna | 15.08.17 - 9:28 a.m. | #
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This is very good news indeed.
Once all the money is recovered it can be spent on something useful or attractive.
Did Mr Johnson ever do anything good for London/ Henley/ Uxbridge/ the UK? What a complete prick.
Lorenzo | 15.08.17 - 9:33 a.m. | #
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lack of support from "the Mayor"
Shouldn't that be "the Mayor, Sadiq Khan". What a talent the man has for self-publication.
2-for-1 Hopper | 15.08.17 - 9:46 a.m. | #
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Great stuff. How on earth was London conned like this?
Chris | 15.08.17 - 10:07 a.m. | #
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Each and every time Sadiq wants to talk about 'green spaces', he should be reminded he's just scrapped the creation of one.
He's talked about the High Line (NYC) before and now scrapped the closest thing London has to creating one.
Nothing like playing politics, when you commission your old mate Hodge to write a report that sets it all up for you.
Jordan D | 15.08.17 - 10:30 a.m. | #
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The bigger question is why there are so many idiots that Boris had been elected for various offices.
Patrickov | 15.08.17 - 10:31 a.m. | #
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I though it was very gracious how Joanna Lumley and all her fellow travellers pledged to donate their private fortunes to repay all of the £37 million that their failed scheme has cost the rest of us.
Unfortunately I can't find a link to the news item...
Gerry | 15.08.17 - 11:04 a.m. | #
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Even with a high maintenance budget, keeping trees as large as those in the artists' impression alive in such a location would have been a challenge, with the inevitably shallow roots (because they're on a bridge!) depriving them of both stabiliy and nourishment - not to mention that any Tames bridge can get quite windy.
timbo | 15.08.17 - 11:12 a.m. | #
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The DM was awash with frothing at the mouth anti-Islamic comments about this news the other day. Apparently the architect had specified gold and silver bricks cemented with a musk-based mortar and rendering in pearls and rubies if you believe their ranting.
Uncle Audrey | 15.08.17 - 12:28 p.m. | #
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I am so pleased it is not going to be built. Would be nice to know where those spent millions went.
The "Evening Standard" last night seemed to blame the wasted money on Sadiq Khan,(not Boris!) and the newspaper seems to be under the impression that most people want the bridge built!
John | 15.08.17 - 1:24 p.m. | #
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@DG - I too popped down to Temple Station yesterday and enjoyed a break on top of what will no longer be the north bank entrance to the bridge. To think we could have been yards apart. But who were you, man in blue shirt with rucksack looking at his mobile phone? Builder in hi-viz with boots off? Woman eating sushi?
@Jordan D - there is another project in development / gathering support called the Peckham Coal Line and it is much closer in vision/scope to the High Line. There is some hope that it will actually be built, and it is likely to cost far less than the doomed Garden Bridge project has already spent.
Matt | 15.08.17 - 2:24 p.m. | #
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Splendid news that this ludicrous folly is now dead. It should never have got through TfL or the local planning process nor to the point of costing nigh on £50m to achieve next to nothing.
We now need action to get the money recovered from those involved in wasting it. Oh and those in the Garden Bridge Trust should stop their endless public whingeing. Just shut up and close down your pointless organisation.
PC | 15.08.17 - 3:30 p.m. | #
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Isn't there a barge-based garden floating on the Thames? I recall seeing an interview with the gardener who admitted it was extremely challenging to keep going in the shallow soil, dry and windy conditions. She was especially skilled in her art and certainly far superior to any gang of contracted workers who usually end up tending green spaces. The GB was just a stupid idea from the off...I presume that's why BJ selected it...on the basis that he looked to be making a public spirited decision but that its fatal flaws would inevitably end the project...long enough after BJ was off the scene. Works in commerce but not in politics though, eh?
b | 15.08.17 - 5:00 p.m. | #
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From Folly Brook yesterday to Folly Bridge (or rather, no Folly Bridge) today.
Bob L-S | 15.08.17 - 9:11 p.m. | #
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@John
Given that the Eveniung Standard's editor signed off the government funding for this folly (in his previous job) it would be surprising if the subsequent scrapping were to be welcomed with open arms. There was an opinion column in it today, from the Chairman of the Trust which was not only somewhat inaccurate (in its assertions that it would be "open all year" but also, rather worryingly given his position, (and his former experience as chairman of a major bank) he doesn't seem to understand the "sunk cost" fallacy.
timbo | 15.08.17 - 9:18 p.m. | #
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I, for one, am quite disappointed that the Garden Bridge is not going to be built but hey ho, never mind, move on...
Paul | 15.08.17 - 10:04 p.m. | #
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I want to know what the £37 million or so was actually spent on?
rashbre | Homepage | 16.08.17 - 3:52 p.m. | #
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Hurah for common sense. If it was ever viable it would have been entirely privately financed.
Now how soon can we get rid of that cable car (IE offload to the private sector else demolish it)
rotund | 16.08.17 - 4:35 p.m. | #
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Hoo-bloody-ray. If someone wants a corporate entertainment space over the river (hoi polloi allowed from time to time), why couldn't they have used the redundant supports between the Blackfriars Bridges?
Autolycus | Homepage | 17.08.17 - 10:49 a.m. | #
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