• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Would you not agree with me first of all that a good answer to Peter Hulme Cross's question would be that the business case for Crossrail demonstrates that business and the economy in London will benefit massively as a result of it being built, and that is why we are proposing and building it?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Mr Mayor, the question from Geoff Pope which we have covered in this was are you actually still confident that Crossrail will begin operating in 2017?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

So it is a 3% levy on the business rate from 2010 to 2035, by which time it will have been absorbed into the general level of taxation and everyone will have forgotten what it was like in the first place because we do not last 25 years in business. Really it is a sort of extra tax in perpetuity on business.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

You are not getting the money that you need.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Earlier, people were talking about the fares structure. It has also been said the fare structure should be compared to the Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express was developed, built and charged for on the fare box so that people getting off British Airways' flights in business class should experience no loss in service, and indeed they were paying for it. It was at a high level that that fare was set. Can we assume that the fares on Crossrail will be set at the average `economy rate', shall we say?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

Previously you have been very confident about your transport plans. Are they now not running into the buffers because you cannot get the money to fund them, so you are going back to the London commuter?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

With the additional transport projects, is there any risk that the Government will not cough up enough which will mean you will have to come back to us for increased fares?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

As I am sure you are aware, the London Assembly has passed a motion condemning the services of First Great Western and I just hope the Government responds positively to that.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

You have to accept there is a risk. For example, what happened with Ruth Kelly [Secretary of State for Transport]? When the £16 billion was calculated, it was suddenly decided we did not have enough money so we had the bizarre spectacle of Ruth Kelly going to the City and saying, 'Can you find another billion or so?' If that was the case, this 33%/33%/33% split meant that the City had to pay more; surely it meant that the contribution from fares has gone up recently and therefore the risk of the fare increases being caused by Crossrail is that...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 17 October 2007

As you are probably aware, there are plans in there for a large tower block to be built on the Arcadia Centre which will also feed into the rebuilding of Ealing Broadway Station. The two are almost intimately inter-connected. Can you assure us that the one will not be delayed by the other, that the plans are already in for the Arcadia Centre and the interface with Ealing Broadway have to happen?