07/04/2017 London News

Welcome to BBC London News with me, Alex Bushill.

The future of the Garden Bridge is under serious doubt tonight,

after a review said it should be scrapped.

The damning report was ordered by the Mayor.

It found that despite ?40 million of taxpayer money being spent

on the project so far, costs are escalating out of control.

And that the purpose of the bridge is still unclear.

Our transport correspondent Tom Edwards has this report.

This is where the Garden Bridge was meant to be built,

stretching from Temple to the South Bank.

Today, though, another blow to a project under fire.

A review says it's not value for money.

Don't put another penny of London ratepayers' money,

or British taxpayers' money, into this project.

I know that money has been lost, but I would cut your losses now,

because there are too many risks, there are too many uncertainties,

and there is no clarity to me that the money can be raised

The bridge was meant to be an oasis of calm above the Thames,

funded mainly by private donors with ?60 million coming

It had big backers, including the previous mayor,

Boris Johnson and the then Chancellor, George Osborne.

Procurement, the costs, the previous mayor, deputy mayor,

TfL officials, are all criticised in this withering report.

It also reveals that the cost of the Garden Bridge could now be

more than ?200 million, and there's a shortfall

It says the trust's finances are in a precarious state.

Opponents always said the Garden Bridge was in the wrong place,

It would be very difficult for them to pull something out

We think that Boris has left us with the ultimate frippery

and Sadiq Khan has it in his power to refuse the guarantee.

I think it's hugely damning and it shows what many of us

felt for a long time, that all the money that's been

spent on this project has not been well spent,

and that it's not good value for public money.

The report also says that the procurement of the bridge

was not open or fair and recommends the project should be cancelled,

even though it could cost the taxpayer up to ?60 million.

Others say that this whole review process is nothing more

The Garden Bridge Trust says it is more determined than ever

The big question now is - what will the mayor do?

Our reporter Alpa Patel joins us now.

Clearly a scathing report - is the Garden Bridge doomed?

It's not looking very good, is it? There's several reasons for that.

Number one, mentioned in the piece, the outstanding price tag. ?70

million still to be generated for this project through private

investors, but the argument is that the bad publicity surrounding the

project and this damning report, is just going to put them off.

Secondly, planning permission. If you can believe it, it's due to

expire at the end of this year. There's no guarantee that Lambeth or

Westminster Council will extend permission, because they had worries

over the maintenance of the bridge in the first place. Finally,

something called the Tideway Tunnel. That's otherwise known as the Thames

super sewer. Keep parts of that project could class with the

construction of this bridge. The London Port authority says that key

bits of infrastructure needs to go up and down the Thames will stop if

the bridge was granted today, there would be significant problems. It

doesn't look like this bridge is going to be built at all.

It's an industry worth nearly ?2 billion a year -

generating skilled, highly-paid jobs.

But the head of British architects has today warned that

a badly-handled Brexit will cost hundreds of jobs.

A quick headcount at one of London's biggest architecture firms.

They not only build our homes and offices, but architects

could be seen as one of the capital's secret weapons.

The industry's worth ?1.7 billion a year.

That's more than the capital's industrial design, fashion

And it's growing faster than London's economy.

Plus, we sell ?400 million more of our services

But around a quarter of our architects are from the EU,

so what happens when Brexit kicks in?

If we have a hard Brexit and our economy collapses,

we're going to have to look abroad, much more than we do already,

and then if we have taxes imposed on our fees that we don't have

already, it's going to be that much more difficult.

Two years ago, the industry's president could not have dreamt

she would be fighting her corner at the Government's table.

If we can't keep the skills that we need here, then

we are going to lose our competitive edge, our innovative edge.

We're going to have practices who perhaps have projects around

the world who will not have the staff.

We're already seeing people change the way they work.

This practice employs fewer than 20 people.

When Brexit gave some companies cold feet about building

from scratch, this lot offered refurbishments instead.

Could you be one of the firms that thrives from uncertainty?

We're a practice that founded in the recession of 2009,

when there was a lot of uncertainty around.

And it feels like that climate exists again now, post-Brexit.

We feel quite positive that a lot of work in the States, Canada,

Might be more difficult in Europe, but we worked

But there's a clear enough message from the sector itself -

the people whose job it is to make more lives more liveable say

they might have to look for a new life themselves.

Time to wish you goodnight and hand you over to Jay Wynne,

A balmy weekend on the way. We're looking at a very pleasant weekend,

with strong sunshine on Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures creeping up day

by day. It is turning a bit chilly overnight tonight. By the end of the

night we will be in the single figures. Some places down to 5-6 and

a few patches of mist and fog. Mist and fog won't last long.

Temperatures will rise rapidly. By the afternoon, the high teens or low

20s. We will go a bit warmer than that for the second part of the

weekend, as the winds come in from Spain. So yes, a fresh start of the

day on Sunday, but lots of sunshine and with that southerly breeze

temperatures get up to 21-22 or 23 degrees. Let's look at the Outlook.

Sadly, it's not going to last. By Monday, and north-westerly wind will

drag in more cloud and temperatures will

drag in more cloud and temperatures will be down by 8-9 .

Hello, my advice would be to make the most of the weather this

weekend, if you can. Because there will be a good day love sunshine on

offer and it will continue to warm up as well. This picture was taken

in Cumbria, at Workington, later in the afternoon. We got the sunshine

eventually in northern England but it's in the Northwest we have the

lowest temperatures at the moment. Under clear skies, it's turning

quite chilly. There's some cloud but most is sitting in the far North

West of Scotland and we will see some patchy fog affecting parts of

the M4 and M5. A chilly night under the skies in the countryside.

Temperatures not far away from freezing. It will warm up very

quickly in the sunshine. The fog won't last long. It will be a lovely

day across England and Wales. More sunshine today than we had in

northern England and