Writing for the Folly For London website on the Garden Bridge project, Caroline Pidgeon takes on the Mayor over the lack of transparency around many aspects of the process:
Yet when it comes to the Garden Bridge this spirit of openness suddenly disappears. Obtaining information about the funding and procurement of the proposed bridge has been a lengthy and torturous process and even now many questions remain unanswered.
The limited information that has come to light so far has only been due to extensive inquiries by myself and other London Assembly Members, and some brilliant investigative reporting, especially by Will Hurst of Architects’ Journal.
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To seek to deflect any examination of the Garden Bridge proposals the Mayor has resorted to ridiculing anyone who speaks out. He has even declared that anyone who raises any questions about the proposed scheme as having a “Taliban-style hatred of beauty”. Such tactics say everything about his lack of credibility on this issue.
The lack of openness by the Mayor of London over the Garden Bridge is simply unacceptable. His record on this issue has now tarnished his other initiatives during his time at City Hall, which have genuinely have allowed greater transparency.
Truly every aspect of the funding, procurement and design of the Garden Bridge is murkier than the River Thames.