• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Mr Mayor, I am delighted to hear that you accept that road humps in which TfL has pumped millions and millions of pounds of taxpayers' money over the years have not achieved the reduction that they should have done in deaths and injuries. As you will know, the London Borough of Barnet has one of the fastest falling death and injury rates and yet we have removed road humps. I am just amazed that there are still people out there who defend road humps because, as you say, not only do they increase emissions but they are actually dangerous because...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

I totally agree with you on the point about back gardens; certainly we have done some work on that. As Ward Councillors - those of us who are - are always fighting off back garden proposals almost constantly. The other point is about access to public areas, which is a key objective in your Biodiversity Strategy, and you are still way off target in those areas. Are you having discussions with the boroughs that are most adversely affected by this to look at how you start to close the gap?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

As you say, it is one of the key objectives in your Biodiversity Strategy yet nearly one quarter of the built up areas of London still have no easy access to natural green space. You are not making progress on this sufficiently at all. You are really failing in this area.

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

I love horses and I have owned horses. I have even owned horseboxes and in fact one of my daughters sometimes lives in a horsebox, so I feel I am qualified to comment on this. I just wanted to ask you if you would like my help in supporting you against exemptions of this kind?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

For the record, Chair, I do not like horses although I would not want to begrudge people who do like them their pleasure. I was tempted to make a comment about cows and global warming. However, Peter [Hulme Cross] does raise a relevant question for a small but important number of people around London. On a more general question about exemptions from the Low Emission Zone, I am sure all Members are being lobbied about this and Bob Neill has touched on it as well, whether the not-for-profit sector, particularly community transport fleets, could be exempted because of the prohibitive...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

Why not consider an exemption at weekends as you do with the Congestion Charge?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

Beyond some of the sniggering and sneering, can I suggest that there is a serious point that is being missed here, Mr Mayor, and perhaps in some cases a bit of a geographic anomaly. You will know that in the southern part of the London Borough of Bromley there is a ward which is so rural in nature that it only returns one councillor and that is an area where I think we have got something in the order of a dozen farms, most of which have horseboxes of one kind or another, and there are a number of riding...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

Well it is not exactly as though you are talking about a lot of vehicles. What we are talking about is the transportation of horses within the Low Emission Zone, mainly at weekends, by people who attend equestrian events which would fall within the Low Emission Zone. We are talking about a small number of vehicles here, but by disqualifying them from coming into the Low Emission Zone, you are going to have a huge effect on horse riding and equestrian eventing. It is totally disproportionate. For example, Upminster Riding Club has been established for 40 years and they hold...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

My information is that to upgrade a horsebox would be in the region of about £4,000, which is no inconsiderable sum. In fact one of my correspondents has a horsebox, a 1985 model, which she says could not be upgraded anyway and she would have to buy a new one. The point is that this will have a disproportionate effect on these people if they cannot move their horses, and it will just simply escalate. You will find that equestrian events are not being held, the places will close as a result of it and I think that would be...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 12 September 2007

No, I suspect you have not owned a horse, Mr Mayor. A lot of these horses are actually shared between a number of different people and the cost does not always fall on just one person.