• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

This morning, I received yet another distressing letter from someone living in my borough of Waltham Forest, regarding the unhealthy impact that aircraft noise pollution is having on herself, her family and neighbours. Do you agree with me and with one of the key recommendations coming out of Darren [Johnson]'s excellent report, `London in a spin', that it is time for the Department of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority to take action in reducing the environmental impact of helicopter noise, and thus improving the quality of life for Londoners? Especially those people in the areas like Waltham Forest, Lewisham...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Thank you. Nationally, as you will know, the aim is to shift the burden of taxation onto environmental areas to influence behaviour. The package also has a shift from income taxes, taking two million low income people out of tax altogether, and shifting onto capital taxes; it is somewhat ironic that it is a Liberal Democrat party, not a Labour party, that is proposing to increase capital taxes. The question is what we can do at a regional level, if that is the national backdrop. I looked at your Lyons inquiry submission, and other than the road pricing point -...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Let me make some suggestions to you. The big change in our plan is to have a proper system of aircraft taxation. Not airport taxation, but aircraft taxation. That could apply regionally. Let us have a regional aircraft noise tax, as other cities do. Let us look at stamp duty, which is a very locally applicable tax, because it is on property, raising over a billion pounds. Let us have a variation of stamp duty to encourage, for example, micro generation on houses so you would get a lower rate of stamp duty. There are all sorts of things that...

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Yes, certainly, and up to 12,000 cars a day could be kept out of London itself, so I would urge you to talk further with the authorities in order to get some commitment.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Thank you. In the discussions on the two car parks for the Olympic games, did you offer any guarantees to the other authorities, either that these would be permanent, or that they would not be permanent?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

So why is this moving ahead so slowly now? Tag and beacon technology has been in use in Europe and in Singapore, indeed, since 1998.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Is the TfL Parliamentary Bill, which is currently in process, not going to actually allow these electronic tags to be placed in private cars?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

So will you be investigating urgently the appropriate legal procedures being put in place, because it does seem the technology is ready. I am surprised that we are now going to have to wait for the legal procedures.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

Now, you said that there have been discussions in inner London, but there are just as many nasty congestion hotspots in parts of outer London, where the concept of road user charging is still in its early stages. So are you going to be discussing this with outer London boroughs?

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 18 November 2006

This is the old clunky camera-based technology.