London mayor Sadiq Khan has frozen a building project for the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Garden Bridge to ensure no more public money is committed to the £175 million scheme.
Khan has temporarily blocked construction at Temple tube station, where works were due to start to strengthen the existing structure so it can withstand the weight of the new River Thames crossing.
The decision was prompted by concerns that £3 million of taxpayers' money would be used to fund the works ? because the mayor has pledged that no more public funds will be spent on top of the £60 million already committed.
He has promised to make the project "more open and transparent" than it was under former mayor Boris Johnson, despite the risk of delaying the scheduled 2018 opening. The 367-metre-long Garden Bridge is proposed across London's River Thames between Temple and the South Bank
"The previous mayor first approved plans for enabling work to prepare Temple tube station for the arrival of the Garden Bridge two years ago in the summer of 2014, but final authorisation was only provided in March this year, two months before the mayoral election," said a spokesperson for the mayor's office, adding that "this enabling work has since been suspended".
"Sadiq Khan has been clear that no new public funds should be committed to the Garden Bridge and he has pledged to make the project more open and transparent ? standards that were not always met under the pr...