• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Jenny Jones AM: I have not been convinced by these arguments about keeping Wormwood Scrubs open space inside the MDC. The council that currently has it in their borough is against it. The Friends of the Open Space are against it. It looks like a mayoral land grab. It does not look like a coherent plan. Sir Edward Lister (Mayor's Chief of Staff): If I may, it is a coherent plan, but they do not agree with it. Jenny Jones AM: Do you not think you should be interested in localism: that decisions for local people for local land should...

• Question by: Gareth Bacon MP
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Gareth Bacon AM: Just a quick word on representation. A number of Members have picked up the issue of transparency and representation on the board. You have made the, not unreasonable, point that it is a management board, not a local authority committee. Each borough will have one elected member, according to the Mayor’s consultation document. Could you reassure the Assembly that the boroughs concerned - although the Mayor will appoint them officially - will be free to nominate whoever they choose?

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Richard Tracey AM: Thank you, Mr Chairman. Edward, can I first of all thank you for organising for the letter to Kit Malthouse [AM] about Wormwood Scrubs, which of course has been circulated to all of us. All of us on this side have received emails from many people who certainly were not constituents of ours but had some concerns, so I think it has helped very much to clarify, and I am grateful to Kit for writing to the Mayor about it. First of all though, I was going to say there is a lot of experience in this...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

John Biggs AM: Unfortunately, most of my time has been taken by a Member making unscripted interventions, because we did plan our time for today. I will try to be very brief. I have two areas. One is about what we call ‘cliff edges’ and it relates to the experience of the LLDC, where the purpose of the Olympics and its legacy is to benefit a far wider area. In answer to Stephen Knight [AM] who said that MDC money can be spent outside this area providing it meets its object, of course that begs the question of what the...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Jenette Arnold OBE (Deputy Chair): I have a couple of questions, one for Sir Eddie, and one for Victoria Hills. Sir Eddie, in your introduction you mentioned that the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) master plan was similar to the blueprint adopted by the LLDC. I know, as one of the three Assembly Members for the area covered by the LLDC, and was heavily involved in the consultation and now I keep a very strong watching brief on what is going on, that many aspects of the LLDC’s vision has changed. For instance, the LLDC plan started...

• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Tom Copley AM: I wanted to return to the issue of affordable housing, because given the shortage of homes that we have this is something that is of particular interest to Londoners. Onkar Sahota has already called for a 50% target. You said that no borough at any point, you thought, had he ever managed to reach 50%, but surely it is better to aim high and fall short of that rather than aiming for 30% or 35% and ending up with 20% or 25%?

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Nicky Gavron AM: Eddie, I would like to ask some questions about some of the planning aspects of this, however first of all I want to ask you about the legislative process, which I am extremely ignorant on. An order has to be laid before Parliament? When does that have to happen and what is in it?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Murad Qureshi AM: Can I raise two or three issues. The first one, Eddie, I am grateful that you mentioned the canals at the outset. It is just unfortunate they do not show up on the maps. I have no doubts that residential developers will be eying those canal sides very eagerly, because I suspect they can enhance the values of the developments by up to 40%. That is the residential side. However, I am more concerned that they are used during the works construction on the site. I think this is going to be a huge development site, over...

• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Stephen Knight AM: Just one quick point and that is, is it legally possible to spend Section 106 or CIL money outside the boundary of a planning authority?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 December 2014

Darren Johnson AM: I hear what you say about Wormwood Scrubs and the issue of permeability. I do not at all doubt the need to improve permeability. However, surely, this type of thing can be done through sensible negotiations between boroughs. You do not need to include it in the MDC to ensure pathways and gates to public open space, do you?