Thank someone that Sadiq Khan applied the common sense which was so obviously lacking previously.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47228698
Johnson and others were (and are no more) than self-serving arses, wasting money, spouting piffle and balderdash; knobs – but that credits them with usefulness they don’t possess.

Wow. George C. Parker had nothing on this bunch of chancers.

That’s nothing compared to how much is being wasted on Brexit.

Why have they spent £21m on the contract when nothing was built?

I can’t comprehend why that would be the case.

That money hasn’t been lost for everybody.
Can people responsible be taken to court?

Boris Johnson “couldn’t remember” why he changed the rules on releasing public money for the bridge:
https://www.ft.com/content/60913776-1d72-11e8-956a-43db76e69936

… and some people still listen to this clown talking about Brexit and think he should be prime minister.

What I don’t get is where did all that money go? Who snaffled it and what for?

Who snaffled it and what for?

Fair chunk went to the architects and designers. Even more went to the building contractors either for initial work done or to break contracts. Lawyers obviously got a decent chunk. Assorted other bits like website plus about half a million to hold a gala to try and get the private sector to pay for it.
Then 1.7 million went to the garden bridge executives for their hard work and dedication.

When at first you don’t succeed…
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2019/02/exeter-redevelopment-steals-londons-disastrous-garden-bridge-idea/

They could fix Exeter in a stroke by pedestrianising the centre (been nearly squashed by a bus barrelling down the high street on more than one occasion).

It’s a splash in the ocean of the £22bn sunk into crossrail. I think that works out at North if £1500 per London resident.
Meanwhile the rest of the UK struggles to get back to pre-timetable change train services, ScotRail runs 40 year old trains etc
It’s not just a Boris thing, it’s a South East and London thing IMO.

I think if the bridge had been built it would of been great and a massive tourism draw for London and the UK. 53m is nothing in the grand scheme, but if the project was failing to deliver then the decision to pull it was the correct one. Its easy to focus on the money “wasted” but if the difficult decision to scrap the project wasn’t taken then that could of run into the 100s of millions.
400k for a Gala, nothing! 140k for a website, nothing! 9m for a design? that I would question. How many architects hours can you buy for 9m?

£160k got them a wordpress template-esque website

https://web.archive.org/web/20170210094541/https://www.gardenbridge.london/

would of been great and a massive tourism draw for London and the UK.

I disagree with that, it would have been one more thing in an area that is already saturated with tourists and attractions, a pointless ill thought out vanity project.

I disagree with that, it would have been one more thing in an area that is already saturated with tourists and attractions, a pointless ill thought out vanity project.

Maybe, my point was that the revenue generated from tourism is massive and 53m is pennies in comparison (uk tourism is worth ~£120 billion)

It’s a splash in the ocean of the £22bn sunk into crossrail. I think that works out at North if £1500 per London resident.
Meanwhile the rest of the UK struggles to get back to pre-timetable change train services, ScotRail runs 40 year old trains etc

Hang on. You complain about shit infrastructure then complain about them spending money on new infrastructure?

A new backbone could free up the old infrastructure for more services, get more passengers on, and generate more revenue. I don’t think the level of anti-HS2 sentiment is necessarily deserved, I think some of it is simply knee-jerk.

What I don’t get is where did all that money go? Who snaffled it and what for?

Rather simplistically, it can be seen in a similar way to the Edinburgh tram project. Planning / legal / council people have been working on it full time in various capacities for the best part of 10 years. As said above it’s easy for the spend to add up very quickly without anyone really noticing.
Personally I think it could have been a good addition to the river crossings, but ultimately the correct decision was probably made in cutting the losses rather than continuing on regardless

It’s a splash in the ocean of the £22bn sunk into crossrail. I think that works out at North if £1500 per London resident.

There is always cynicism at the beginning when it comes to the costs of infrastructure projects such cross rail, but is there now and will be around for a long time to come.

Meanwhile the rest of the UK struggles to get back to pre-timetable change train services, ScotRail runs 40 year old trains etc

Have you ever had been on a southern rail or SWR train? But, I agree the level of funding for the rest of the uk is appalling.

It’s not just a Boris thing, it’s a South East and London thing IMO.

London bashing again. Its the politicians in Westminster that should set transport policy, but we are talking about Chris failing here.

it would have been one more thing in an area that is already saturated with tourists and attractions, a pointless ill thought out vanity project.

Agree, it should never have been even thought of, a complete waste of money.

I think if the bridge had been built it would of been great and a massive tourism draw for London and the UK

More privatisation of public space, with consequences also for the areas at each end, like cutting down all the trees at South Bank.

Still – it was a useful way for Boris to funnel public money into his pals’ pockets, so some benefit, eh?

https://costofbrexit.netlify.com/ . Nothing compared to his other folly 😔

I think if the bridge had been built it would of been great and a massive tourism draw for London and the UK…
Its easy to focus on the money “wasted” but if the difficult decision to scrap the project wasn’t taken then that could of run into the 100s of millions.

I think they failed to demonstrate the return, and I’m not sure how it would ever have benefited the “UK”.

The important point is that they didn’t follow the rules on how the public funding should have been controlled, so it’s not just a case where “we tried and things didn’t work out”; they circumvented controls that would have helped avoid the outcome.

Would have been peanuts compared to the money magnet of Boris Island, i’d have thought.

I don’t think the level of anti-HS2 sentiment is necessarily deserved, I think some of it is simply knee-jerk.

I think the main problem with HS2 and crossrail sentiment, is that it is just about feeding London, while in the North the DoT deliberately **** up rail services, so that people would be happy when they restored a lower service than had been previously provided.

HS2 should be a nationwide project, with high speed tracks going from Southampton to Glasgow, and Dover to Edinburgh, and tracks crossing east to west, Dover to Cardiff (or even Swansea), Hull to Liverpool, Edinburgh to Glasgow. Investment for the whole nation instead of just pumping money into London all the time. But it is 40 years since UK politics was for the whole country and not just London.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/01/transport-spending-gap-london-north-of-england-ippr

HS2 just extends the commuting radius to London outward to more affordable housing.

HS2 just extends the commuting radius to London outward to temporarily more affordable housing.

FTFY

while in the North the DoT deliberately **** up rail services

Nah its just a hobby of theirs everywhere which isnt actually managed by someone else. Hence why London itself does okay but if you commute in its really potluck.
The line I am on got an “improved” timetable as well.I think because it was one of the commuter lines which did okay and hence needed dragging down to greater anglia and southern rail standards.

Channel 4 Dispatches was about HS2 this week, and making direct comparison with the absolutely woeful state of the Victorian-era train services which allegedly link the northern cities.

I was working in Manchester City Centre when Chis Grayling gifted us all the new Northern Fail ‘Timetable Changes’ last year. It was utter chaos, a total shambles, and its not got much better since. As the Dispatches programme illustrates, there’s simply no way on earth you’d rely on the train services to get into work every day, in the north.

well worth a viewing

As for HS2, there seems to be a strong suspicion emerging that it’ll never make it past Birmingham and will end up just being a ludicrously expensive commuter line into London. Its got ‘White Elephant’ written all over it. It goes without saying that its costs are already spiralling towards the £100 billion mark

tjagain

Member
What I don’t get is where did all that money go? Who snaffled it and what for?

some people made an awful lot of money

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/who-got-what-how-was-53m-squandered-on-the-doomed-garden-bridge/10039976.article

Why have they spent £21m on the contract when nothing was built?

I can’t comprehend why that would be the case.

So far, roughly £55 million has been spent on looking into building a tunnel to bury the A303 running past Stonehenge, costs have escalated to £1.6billion, the first proposal was in 1995, and they’re still bloody arguing the toss over it!
There are those who complain about it being built, because they have a right to a view of the stones! Bugger off, that stretch of road is a bloody nightmare, unnecessary holdups for miles around because of rubbernecking drivers, and regular accidents as a result.
That bridge would have been a snip by comparison.

There are those who complain about it being built, because they have a right to a view of the stones!

Lot more issues than that. Stonehenge is only part of a massive archaeological landscape. The loss of information is likely to be rather large if a tunnel goes ahead.
Also the key thing about this bridge is it was supposed to be a private sector job. Whereas it has turned out to be a massive bill for the taxpayer. Luckily it got cancelled before it turned into an even large bill for the taxpayer with limited access whilst the profits went to the private sector.

What with this and the BAFTAS, it’s been a pretty shit week for Joanna Lumley.

The DoT needs to be relocated outside London. There is an inherent bias to the SE as that is the centre of the civil service who produce the assessments, reports, and recommendations and where the cash is currently held for investment.

Move them out to the cities, if the DoT can’t travel to meet then they will start to understand the reality for everywhere outside their London centric bubble

HS2 has spaffed the budget in dodging all the objectors in the Cotswolds etc by tunnelling left right and centre. In the north communities are being separated permanently from local infrastructure and told to f off when they object and expected to be grateful for any uplift from the stripped out crap that is being dished out now

What I don’t understand is how they get away with the not held accountable.

If a store checkout person was say 53 quid short on the till they’d probably not get the same reception oh well it’s just Boris giggle,giggle and sort of just carry on.

Move them out to the cities, if the DoT can’t travel to meet then they will start to understand the reality for everywhere outside their London centric bubble

I just look at the railway station architecture London gets the cathedrals and er in Bristol we got a cattle shed.

(There’s probably more to it historically so I am simplifying but I’m always impressed by the St pancreas etc and unimpressed by er TM)

(There’s probably more to it historically so I am simplifying but I’m always impressed by the St pancreas etc and unimpressed by er TM)

Temple Meads is basically a terminus, the London station’s are more like hubs. TM is in need of a lot of cleaning up and infrastructure work, but it’s a Brunel building and a nice piece of architecture in its own right; like Bath and Chippenham stations, they’ve been poorly maintained and become horribly run down, it’s only now that money is being spent on them to bring them up to scratch – I believe something like £16 million is earmarked for work on Chippenham station and it’s surroundings, tied in with the ongoing electrification of the GWR.
TM and it’s surroundings have also been poorly served over the years, the removal of the overpass that took traffic straight down to the roundabout by St Mary Redcliffe made things look a bit tidier, but has resulted in traffic wanting to go round to the Thekla having to make a big detour, which doesn’t help anyone, and the old hotel in the middle of the roundabout as you come down from Old Market is still a derelict eyesore!
TM still needs a lot doing to make it an attractive destination/departure venue.

All the major London overgrounds stations are terminus too.