Plans for a “Garden Bridge” that have secured £30 million pounds from both TfL and the Department of Transport does not guarantee right of way for the public, whilst the Mayor of London has also rejected proposals to include a cycle track running alongside.
Mayor Boris Johnson has been criticised by Green Party Assembly Member Darren Johnson for giving the green light to funding for a “Garden Bridge” without first securing a guarantee from owners that the bridge would be a public highway.
Transport for London is putting £30m towards the bridge across the Thames which will not be a public highway and will not allow public access between midnight and 6am, unless current proposals are significantly amended by the Lambeth planning committee on the 11th November. The Department for Transport is also putting £30m towards the bridge. Public access will be dependent upon a separate travel plan agreed between the owners of the bridge and the local authorities. The Mayor has rejected proposals to include a cycle track running alongside the bridge.
Transport for London and the Department for Transport are contributing £60m between them towards the proposed bridge that will not be open for a quarter of the day.
Darren Johnson asked the Mayor for a guarantee in perpetuity that there would be a public right of way across the bridge. The Mayor has not given such a guarantee, nor does the planning application offer it. Boris Johnson argues that “Many parks and gardens close when its dark”.
Darren said; “I was really shocked to discover that this bridge is receiving £60m from the joint transport budgets of the Mayor and the national government, but the public have no guaranteed right of way. Central London is a 24 hour city, but under the current proposals there is effectively no bridge for at least a quarter of the day. Given the scale of public funding for this bridge I would have expected the Mayor to have pinned down guarantees that Londoners will be able to use this bridge to cross the river 24/7 in ten or twenty years’ time.
“The cable car was meant to help commuters get across the river, but got turned into a tourist attraction by the Mayor. This looks increasingly like another of the Mayor’s high profile, tourism projects funded from tube and bus fares.”