Ministers have repeatedly given more public money to London’s planned garden bridge, despite official advice against doing so, and risk losing more than £20m if the controversial project is cancelled, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO). Last month, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, set up an inquiry into the use of a combined £60m of public money, much of which has been spent before construction has begun. “It worries me that whenever the Garden Bridge Trust runs into financial trouble, the Department for Transport releases more taxpayers’ money before construction has even started,” she said. In a statement, the Garden Bridge Trust said it was creating “a visionary project” and welcomed proper scrutiny. “The government remains supportive of the garden bridge project and ministers took into account a wide range of factors before deciding whether or not to make funding available,” he said.

Source: The Guardian October 11, 2016 09:00 UTC