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A senior Transport for London boss has been asked to explain why Bouygues was paid almost 拢21m for 鈥渄elivering nothing鈥� as part of an inquiry into the failed Garden Bridge scheme.

The group鈥檚 head of corporate affairs Andy Brown was tackled by the London Assembly鈥檚 Caroline Pidgeon over the amount of money Bouygues picked up for a bridge that never got built.

The French contractor and Italian joint venture partner, steelwork firm Cimolai, were appointed in May 2015 to the 拢175m scheme.

But the pair never got to start work proper on the bridge after it was cancelled by London mayor Sadiq Khan in 2017, deciding no more public money could be lavished on a scheme that had been championed by his predecessor Boris Johnson.

Pidgeon asked: "Surely Bouygues cannot have spent 拢21m on delivering nothing. Have TfL asked for money back from Bouygues?"

Brown said while payments had been the responsibility of the charity set up to build the scheme, the Garden Bridge Trust, TfL had been pushing the charity's trustees to reduce liabilities as "far as possible".

TfL handed the trust 拢24m for the bridge, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, which was also given a further 拢19m from the Department for Transport.

Brown, who said he was "sad" public money had been spent on a project that failed, also defended TfL's decision to make funds associated with the construction phase of the project.

He added: "I would not say we had serious concerns about whether it could be delivered. There were things we knew were harder than other things and they [the trust] had credible plans in place to address that."

The Garden Bridge Trust has refused to come before the today to discuss their role in spending 拢43mn public money on nothing. TfL have come along to discuss their role.

鈥� Caroline Pidgeon (@CarolinePidgeon)

Brown was left to front the Assembly members alone after the most senior figures from the Garden Bridge Trust refused to participate in the session.

In a sent earlier this month to the chair of the London Assembly inquiry, Tom Copley, trust chair Lord Mervyn Davies, said it had no 鈥渇aith in its objectivity given that leading members of the [Assembly] have been so critical of both the Garden Bridge project and the Trust over a matter of years, without at any time feeling it would be helpful to speak to the Trust".

Davies, the trust鈥檚 chief executive Bee Emmott, who previously worked for bridge designer Heatherwick Studio, and Davies鈥� deputy, Paul Morrell, the government鈥檚 former chief construction adviser, were all invited to attend yesterday鈥檚 hearing but failed to show.