• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

My other question is an even more serious matter. It concerns minority faith communities. I think the Party Groups on this Assembly have been reasonably principled on this one. We have had a rather heated debate about the so-called Mega Mosque in West Ham. There are obviously legitimate planning issues and it is worth asking detailed questions about who the group are who are applying for the permission. Behind that, there is a pretty heavy body of what I would call Islamaphobia which is ignorant and which is shielding itself behind bogus arguments. In the same way, in London, there...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

I realise that Mr Biggs and yourself would rather we did not perform our function of asking difficult questions and searching questions -

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

The specific site is Manor Gardens' allotments, which will be destroyed.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Thank you. The reason I asked this question was for three purposes. The first you have answered which is that rather than the impression being allowed to remain that the LDA randomly picks numbers and hands money to people who have no entitlement to it, there is a very rigorous process, which needs to be examined, but leads to proper valuations. Even if you are unlawfully occupying a piece of land that does not mean you do not own that piece of land. The second reason is about the Olympics. Every political party, with I think one exception in this...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Do you not think that the LDA are behaving in a very philistine fashion with regard to the use of the land in that they are going to put buses on Hackney Marshes, they are going to put travellers on playing fields, and they are going to dispose of the Manor Gardens allotments by bulldozing them completely, and that will destroy that community? There may be plans to resettle them somewhere else and then to move them back again, but that community will not survive.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Did he say exactly the same to you, Mr Mayor?

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Can we come back to the land assembly, which you have mentioned. 93 per cent of the land is now under public control. The other 7 per cent though, as was discovered when we questioned the LDA, threatens potentially 2,000 jobs, which are on that land at the moment and are yet to be re-sited or brought under public ownership. What is your stance on the jobs that will be lost if the land is not made available?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

You are expecting them to drive?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Thank you for what you said about land acquisition. I certainly welcome the settlement that has been made with KICC, as it is within my constituency, and it is right to see fair treatment to this organisation. The concerns I have are about the smaller communities, mainly the traveller communities. I know we are down the way with the resettlement of the Hackney traveller community, they were expressing concerns to me last week about members of other traveller communities within the five Borough Zone. I want you to reaffirm your commitment to ensuring that the traveller communities will get fair...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

It is all to do with land acquisition, Chair. You can get back to us to tell us what is happening. It is the smallness of these issues that concerns me, that they will be overlooked.