• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 18 June 2014

Tony Arbour AM: Arising from the last point that Mr Tracey raised, you told us that on the basis of what you already knew it is likely to be true that a third runway is going to generate less noise than two runways. I may say that my constituents in Hounslow and Richmond have frequently heard assertions saying, “More means less”, which has not proved to be so. I wonder if you can tell us on what you base your certainty that there will be a smaller noise footprint from a third runway than there is from the existing two...

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 18 June 2014

Richard Tracey AM: Can I question you a bit further on Heathrow? I do not know where you live, Sir Howard. I live in Wandsworth and a lot of my residents, of course, suffer from these early-morning flights you have been talking about. Indeed, Mr Graham was at the meeting a while ago and heard that people from Lambeth were complaining in exactly the same way as we are in Wandsworth. Do I take it that you accept that the current levels of noise, particularly early-morning noise, going into Heathrow are unacceptable for the millions of people who live underneath...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 18 June 2014

Murad Qureshi AM: Sir Howard, sticking with the here and now with the compensation and mitigation of airport noise, I just want to be reassured. In coming to a decision regarding aviation expansion, what weight will you give to the present offer that Heathrow Holdings has made regarding the £500 million for noise insulation and property compensation?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 18 June 2014

John Biggs AM: I should start by saying that although the Assembly is unanimous in taking the view that Heathrow presents all sorts of problems, we are not necessarily unanimous on the conclusions that flow from that. I am very interested in this issue of noise. There is a health warning here, which is that scientists can measure it but the individual experience of it seems to vary from person to person and from time of day to time of day as well, so we need to be very clear about that and how people find it offensive. In your...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

You will recall in relation to this, Mr Mayor, that at the last meeting I raised the subject of sound cannon and I drew your attention to the fact that sound cannon had been deployed during the Olympics. You, unusually, expressed the opinion that this was something you knew nothing of. I wonder whether or not you would, whilst you are looking at the SmartWater option or indeed any other option for crowd control, look to see what the effect is of sound cannon, particularly in relation to the point I made as to how cheap the implementation or the...

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

I think one of the problems with the Higgins Report is that there is still no recognition of the inadequate compensation arrangements for Camden residents, where they are going to be rehoused, the impact on the Drummond Street businesses that are going to be ruined, the lack of the mitigation measures for those who live near the works, that has not been covered in the Higgins Report at all.

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

Yes, Mr Mayor, I am very happy that you are seeking to recruit officers to replace the ones you have already cut. I think we all agree that we have to do our utmost to make sure that those new officers are representative of London’s communities. I know that is something that you feel strongly about as well. I was very concerned to read that according to the Metropolitan Police Service’s own Equalities Impact Assessment in January that currently the Metropolitan Police Service has a 10.5% of officers are black and minority ethnic (BAME).

• Question by: Andrew Dismore
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

I think people are also interested to know that when they dial 999 the police are going to turn up. You have what is called the ‘I call’ which means in most emergency calls the police have to turn up within 15 minutes, 90% of the time is your target, the ‘S call’ within an hour, 90% of the time. In Barnett for the last three months they have consistently failed to meet the targets for both I and S calls, second worst performance in the whole of London. What are you going to do about it?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

Mr Mayor, I am inclined to make judgements based on results. I hear from my Borough Commander in Wandsworth, which is apparently statistically the safest inner London borough, that in the last 12 months, and the Local Policing Model was introduced six months ago into Wandsworth, we have seen 400 fewer burglaries, 300 fewer robberies, 200 fewer thefts from vehicles and almost 200 fewer vehicles taken in the borough. Over the same period

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 19 March 2014

Mr Mayor, are you aware that the reduction in PCSOs has happened, of course because quite a lot of them have been promoted and become fully warranted police officers, the good ones? Do you think we should be celebrating the fact that the Metropolitan Police Service is actually recruiting and promoting officers when so many other forces throughout the country are not doing that?