Boris Johnson defends garden bridge plan that will cost public £46m

Boris Johnson has said that he cannot recall why he signed a key directive as London mayor that contributed to the loss of more than £40m of public money on the city’s garden bridge. Facing increasing pressure over the abandoned project, Johnson, appearing before London Assembly members, answered detailed questions on the scheme for the first time on Thursday. Johnson offered some contentious reasons as to why the bridge was not built, and alleged that a journalist who had won awards for uncovering problems with the project was motivated by personal dislike of its designer. The planned tree-filled pedestrian link from Temple to the South Bank was scrapped in August 2017 because of a shortfall in funds raised by the charity behind it and a lack of final planning consent despite three years of talks. Click here for the full Guardian article