The London Assembly Oversight Committee today used its discretionary powers to issue a summons notice to Transport for London requesting documents relating to the ill-fated Garden Bridge.
The Assembly wants to see any notes, text messages and/or social media messages sent or received in the time period 1 March 2018 to 25 January 2019 between the Garden Bridge Trust and/or the Trust’s professional advisors and the following officers of Transport for London;
- TfL Commissioner, Mike Brown
- TfL Head of Corporate Affairs, Andy Brown
- TfL General Counsel, Howard Carter
- TfL solicitor, Charles Ritchie
- TfL Director of City Planning, Alex Williams
Also requested are the July 2018 letter from Mervyn Davies, trustee of the Garden Bridge Trust, sent to Andy Brown, Head of Corporate Affairs and referenced in the e-mail to Andy Brown from Jane Hywood, Finance Manager, Garden Bridge Trust.
The letter dated 14 September from Mervyn Davies, initially sent to Andy Williams, and also attached in an e-mail from Paul Morrell to Andy Brown of 28 September 2018.
The documents and files are to be provided no later than two weeks from the date of the summons notice.
Tom Copley AM, Chair of the Garden Bridge Working Group said:
“It is jaw-dropping that TfL have not learnt that when it comes to this project, transparency is paramount.
“We expect full cooperation with our continued investigations into the failed Garden Bridge project and will use all of the powers at our disposal to get it.
“Hiding behind the veil of ‘commercially sensitive information’ won’t wash – when documents can be redacted, if necessary, before we place them in the public domain.”
Related documents
Supplementary Agenda item - Garden Bridge summons
Notes to editors
- The summons supplementary agenda item document is attached.
- Tom Copley AM, Chair of the Garden Bridge Working Group, is available for interview – see contact details below.
- Find out more about the GLA Oversight Committee.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
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