"If the project collapses, taxpayers stand to lose £22.5 million.

There is no requirement for extra public funds for this work. He added: "The taxpayer, however, must not be exposed to any further risks and it is now for the trust to find private-sector backers to invest in the delivery of this project. Repayable loan

The Garden Bridge Trust, which is behind construction of the bridge, said it would ultimately provide the finance for the additional costs to make the improvements to the Tube station.A Garden Bridge Trust spokesperson confirmed it had signed a costs agreement with TfL which included a repayment schedule. Analysis by Tom Edwards, BBC London transport correspondent. The BBC is …

The Garden Bridge's future is hanging by a thread - these financial guarantees are part of their planning permissions. The Garden Bridge Trust said Dame Margaret Hodge's review had ignored information.



A list of BBC episodes and clips related to "Garden Bridge".

Members of the public are being asked for their views on £150m plans for a "garden" bridge over the River Thames. These are external links and will open in a new window "Holidaymakers had just hours to return to the UK to avoid the 14-day self-isolation requirement.

Lord Davies, chairman of trust, said: "It is a very one-sided report and full of errors."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan backs 'more accessible' Garden Bridge plans Scrapping Garden Bridge would 'cost twice as much as building it'

While £60m of taxpayers' money was being invested initially, this was being treated as money to kick start the project, with £20m being treated as a repayable loan and roughly the same amount to be repaid to the Treasury in VAT, leaving the taxpayer with a net contribution of £20m if construction of the bridge did go ahead.Transport Minister Lord Ahmad said ministers had taken into account many factors before deciding whether to make funding available.


The Whitehall spending watchdog said government ministers ignored the advice of civil servants on at least two occasions not to extend funding to the Garden Bridge Trust.On the second occasion that they did so Conservative party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin, who was then transport secretary, issued a formal ministerial direction to civil servants requiring them to extend the taxpayers' exposure and underwrite liabilities of £15m if the project did not go ahead.That ministerial direction was issued after cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood wrote to the Department for Transport (DfT) expressing the "frustration" of Mr Cameron and then chancellor George Osborne at perceived hold-ups to the funding.The NAO said the initial commitment to provide £30m of taxpayers' money was made by Mr Osborne to Mr Khan's predecessor, Boris Johnson, without any involvement of the DfT.Under the agreement in autumn 2013 the mayor would contribute a further £30m while the remainder - then estimated at £115m - was to come from private funding.The DfT agreed to make that investment, despite an assessment of the business case finding there was a "significant risk" that the bridge could represent "poor value for money".It did so by increasing its block grant to Transport for London (TfL).The DfT also sought to protect taxpayers' money by capping the amount which could be spent by the trust before construction began at £8.2m.But on three separate occasions - between June 2015 and May 2016 - this was relaxed by the DfT. These are external links and will open in a new window A pedestrian garden bridge spanning the River Thames from Temple to the Southbank is designed by the London Olympics cauldron architect.