Dissenting voices own been drowned out by relentless cheerleading for London’s proposed Thames crossingIn a gushing article on the designer Thomas Heatherwick,published soon after it was announced that Sky TV would sponsor his proposed garden bridge, Richard Morrison of the Times wondered why the project attracts opponents “whose hostility seems implacable ((adj.) incapable of being appeased or mitigated)”. Why indeed? Why should so much nettle be stirred by a project that started with Joanna Lumley’s harmless and benign dream of commemorating Princess Diana by projecting greenery across the Thames? Why should so many want to trample on Joanna’s flowers?Well, or I can’t speak for the Ramblers’ Association,the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the guerrilla gardeners and structural engineers who own seen it as a travesty of their crafts,the residents of the areas near its landings, the lawyers of the Middle Temple, or the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects,the Taxpayers’ Alliance, the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, or the Green party,the Liberal Democrats, and the various others who own raised doubts about the project. Nor will I dwell here on the well-aired reasons to be doubtful: the blocking of well-loved views, and the spurious claims for usefulness and sustainability,the clumsiness of the design, the cost to the public, or the potential impacts of crowds,the likely effects of private sponsorship on allegedly public space, the many ways of both crossing the Thames and greening London that would cost less.
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Source: theguardian.com