Margaret Hodge will lead a review into how taxpayers’ money has been spent on the controversial Garden Bridge project.

The Barking MP will examine whether value for money has been achieved and investigate the work of bodies such as Transport for London (TfL) and the Greater London Authority since the bridge was first proposed in 2012.

The Garden Bridge Trust hopes to start construction on the 366 metre-long footbridge from the top of Temple Tube station to the South Bank later this year and it is expected to open in 2018.

Some £60 million of public money has been pledged towards the £185 million project, of which £37 million has already been spent.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has committed to make the scheme more “open and transparent” than it was under his predecessor Boris Johnson, and insisted that no new taxpayers’ funds will be committed.

Mrs Hodge’s review, which will be published in full, will cost up to £25,000 to produce.