Why I’m against the Garden Bridge
I originally supported the idea of the Garden Bridge in London, although it didn’t sound like the best use of money I thought if the mayor and the government were insisting on supporting it at least we’ll get something nice out of it.
However when you actually look into it it’s quite clear that building the bridge will be a disaster for London and will take away more than it gives. So my view now about the bridge is that I would be against it even if it was 100% privately funded (which it’s not).
The main area of loss is the park on the South Bank of the Thames. The South Bank is a public area open 24/7 and the construction of the bridge would mean having to cut down over 30 mature trees and concrete over the park where a new unsightly landing building would be placed.
The design of the bridge is ugly too, from the banks of the Thames it looks like a flyover that’s incomplete, at each end the bridge comes to an abrupt stop and access is via either stairs or some lifts. Have a look at the image above that shows the awful structure built on the South Bank to accommodate it, a picture of the North Bank that’s on the Garden Bridge website (see below) shows how abruptly the bridge ends at that side too.
At least on the North Bank they plan on using the roof of Temple Tube Station as their landing building so it’s not quite as ugly as the south.
Most publicity for the Garden Bridge uses a rendering where the ugly edges of the bridge are obscured by trees so many people don’t know how dreadful it’ll really look.
London is a green city, it does not need a garden bridge which will destroy more open space than it creates. Have a look round London some time, as well as the big parks like Green Park, Hyde Park, etc there’s lots of smaller parks dotted around London for people to enjoy and relax in. As for gardens in unexpected places there’s already numerous roof gardens including the famous Kensington Roof Gardens and on top of the Crossrail building in Canary Wharf. London even already has its own garden bridge, the so-called Green Bridge in Mile End which carries a park across a busy road (unfortunately searching for ‘Green Bridge’ brings up results for the dreaded Thames Garden Bridge). There’s also a proposal to convert disused rail infrastructure in West London to make a garden bridge in Barnes. Making use of disused infrastructure makes sense (like the High Line in New York) but constructing a bridge in a location where it’s not needed is an environmental disaster.
The website ‘A Bridge Too Far’ has links to various sources of information so you can find out why so many people are opposed to the bridge. If you agree it’s a bad idea then read here for ways to show that you oppose the bridge.
