Thank you for your email received by us on 13 September 2017 asking for information about the ‘outputs’ from Heatherwick Studio, Thomas Heatherwick, Arup and Garden Bridge Trust in connection with the proposal for a Garden Bridge in London.
 
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and TfL’s information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked for:
 
Please can you provide me with information that shows the 'outputs' Heatherwick Studio, Thomas Heatherwick, Arup and Garden Bridge Trust achieved /didn't achieve to date in all matters relating to the funding monies they received.
 
We have assumed that you are requesting information on all the outputs of the work they have undertaken. Our funding agreement and numerous reports about the Garden Bridge project, including these parties’ involvement, are available via the following respective links:
 
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/temple-footbridge
 
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-gbt-funding-agreements-and-variations.pdf
 
The GLA has also published a review of the project, which may be of interest: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/garden_bridge_review.pdf
 
However, given the extent of the information you are looking for, we are applying Regulation 12(4)(b) as we believe that the request is ‘manifestly unreasonable’ because providing the information you have requested, which is very broad in scope, would impose unreasonable costs on us and require an unreasonable diversion of resources. To answer your request in full would take an excessive amount of staff time and resources, and would require the identification, retrieval and review of all correspondence and reports concerning the work undertaken by the named parties. We have established that the requested information is likely to be spread across a large number of documents and emails over a period of more than four years.
 
Therefore, to locate, extract and review all of the requested information would require a full search of the information we hold in regards to the Garden Bridge project. This information has been created by numerous people within TfL, and a wide ranging manual search of electronic and physical files would be required to answer your request. Please also note that some members of staff involved in these schemes have moved on to different jobs and roles.
 
The use of this exception is subject to a public interest test, which requires us to consider whether the public interest in applying the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure. We recognise that the release of information would promote accountability and transparency in public services and also help address your particular concerns about this issue. However, the time it would take to provide the information you have requested would divert a disproportionate amount of our resources from its core functions and, taking into account the information already published, on balance we consider that the public interest currently favours the use of the exception.
 
We will consider your request again, if you are able to narrow its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you have specific questions we will be happy to consider those.
 
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London