• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Thank you, Chair. We have a Member who is making reference to a graph which I do not believe the Mayor has access to and, certainly, other Assembly Members do not access have to, which makes it impossible for us to actually put forward questions in either support or contradiction or follow up to the points she is making. The use of props is against --

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Mr Mayor, despite that long discussion with our colleague, Val Shawcross, I think it has to be right that Londoners across the board will be really shocked to hear that the bus subsidy is now over £600 million a year and, as you said in your answer, it has gone up from about £20 million. Councillor Phil Taylor in Ealing is regularly writing to us about this constantly climbing bus subsidy and, at the same time, various people write to us to say they do believe that there are too many empty buses running about the roads, particularly in the...

• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Right. Can I slip in here? It is quite interesting. Such a full house. We have chatted about the humorous elements of the Arts Council. We have gone on about the Olympic Games. We have heard about press coverage. We all had a good laugh. I think that is not, absolutely, enough, what you are putting forward here. This is one serious matter. Let me put some statistics to you. In 2007 in London 2,693 people died during winter time. Let us look at other statistics regards giving out the opportunity to elderly people when they can, if they wish...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

f course, in the enlightened areas of Romford and Gidea Park we had our Oyster readers installed at the stations in the last few months in response to a big campaign that was run amongst local people to make them available. Paradoxically, this actually made matters worse because suddenly people realised that, although the readers were there, they still could not use pay as you go and my post bag is actually filled up with people complaining about that since then, so they will be pleased to see an end to this and the ability to use Pay As You...

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Mr Mayor, I am surprised that in the list of your transport meetings over October there is not one at the beginning of October when you might have met the train operating companies at the Conservative Party Conference. I think every other one of us met them in Manchester at that point when they were --

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

I just want to say, quickly, I had the pleasure, two weeks ago, of introducing some of the residents that have been spoken about here this morning, to Her Majesty the Queen, and they did not seek to ask any favours and they will not, I am sure, appreciate the experience they have had, some of it quite ghastly, just explored here this morning in this haphazard way. Both Members are right; there are issues to talk about, but I would just hope that the Mayor would consider that this issue does not rest with one Member and that there...

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

hank you. I recognise the constraints but I think there are three types of Londoners, all of whom are paying through the Council Tax, as you so rightly say. The first is the people who have put up with very, very severe disruption for seven years by living in the middle of a building site with all the noise, pollution and everything that goes with that. I think they are in a very, very different position to other Londoners. The second category, I would say, would be disadvantaged communities. In order for us to make good on the promise that...

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Mr Mayor, whilst I, obviously, have a large degree of sympathy for people who have found the Olympic building works disruptive, and have been living near a huge building site, it is worth reminding ourselves what the end result of that building site will be, which will be excellent sporting facilities, parkland and travel infrastructure, so their perseverance will be repaid by huge regeneration. There are, however, millions of Londoners who live in south London, south west London, west London and north London who will not see, directly, the results of that building work. So I think, whilst it may...

• Question by: Navin Shah
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

Excellent sound bite. Excellent election pledge. What happens when you actually venture out of Zone 1? You came to my patch. You visited Harrow-on-the-Hill Station - a good photo opportunity, great publicity, but what happened soon after you left? £25 million funding for accessibility to the station was scrapped. If that is what happens when you venture out of Zone 1, I suggest you remain in Zone 1. Thank you.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 18 November 2009

OK. Just for the record, Mr Mayor, Members, I believe, or the Secretariat, are informed about your whereabouts at 7am on the day. That is hardly adequate warning.