Uxbridge MP and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to receive a grilling at the London Assembly one more time over the controversial Garden Bridge project.

Now scrapped, plans for a private £200 million tree-lined footbridge across the Thames linking Temple and South Bank were backed by Boris and cost the taxpayer £37 million without a brick being laid.

Boris was summoned by the assembly to appear before an oversight committee looking into failings in the management of the Garden Bridge project in March.

A review into the ill-fated project carried out by Dame Margaret Hodge and published in October, had no powers to demand the now Foreign Secretary take part.

So far, the Assembly has only heard evidence pertaining to Sadiq Khan's tenure as mayor, and has determined that Mr Johnson must give evidence on the project since he publicly backed it in 2013 and pledged TfL support.

The bridge was the brainchild of actress Joanna Lumley, meant as a tribute to Princess Diana, but critics argued it was too expensive and in an already crowded section of the Thames, with plenty of crossings.

An artist's impression of the Garden Bridge from Temple

Controversy also arose over public money being spent on the private project, which would result in the Garden Bridge Trust controlling the bridge and setting rules over public access to it.

Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan withdrew support for the Garden Bridge project in April, after costing the Department for Transport £25 million and Transport for London around £11 million in services in kind.

The bridge was intended as a memorial to Princess Diana

The Garden Bridge Trust then decided that there was no way to proceed and to raise an estimated £70 million to plug a funding gap, without the Mayor's support.

Boris Johnson's March 1 appearance at the Greater London Authority oversight committee will be the first time a former mayor has been summoned for scrutiny by the London Assembly.

While the Dame Hodge review into the Garden Bridge could not demand that Mr Johnson take part, failure to attend the oversight committee after the summons was issued would have been a criminal offence.

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