• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

You ought to be leaning on your friends in China and in India, because of course the effect that they have in a single day will be as much as this has probably in a century in reducing global pollution.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

What I am suggesting is though that people who want to change their vehicles that are a bit dirty now, it is a very expensive process, the way it has to be licensed by TfL. Wouldn't that be a good first step to bring that down, to make it more encouraging for people to do that?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

You must have done some work on the revenue implications of this already. Is it not really simply driven by the fact that the scheme needs to make more money. You sigh but the fact is it does need to because the Western Extension zone is not going to financially stack up, so is this not really a way of trying to raise more money and what are the revenue implications as the plan you currently see it?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

Would this apply to cars that have recently been manufactured or would it apply to all cars?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

There has been singing and dancing in the suburban shopping centres of London as a result of this announcement and I can imagine them in Kingston marketplace this morning rejoicing in the fact that people are going to be driving their Cherokees to Kingston rather than bringing them into Central London. On the other hand, of course, there is going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth in Central London because of this. Why are you imposing an extra tax on London as a retail centre? Why are you imposing an extra tax on the London that you love?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

Whilst you are charging on the basis of emissions, what about possibilities of switching to different fuel uses, like bio fuels, ethanol in particular? I think there is a case there that they should be charged a reduced rate of Congestion Charge, in between the exemption that electric battery cards have and what the standard rate is.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

Not such good news for people who may just have bought their new vehicle though; they have got it for five years. Can you give an assurance today that you are genuinely open minded about the consultation, and that you have not already got a lot of prefixed ideas, because if it is a genuine consultation it is important that people know that they have got a real opportunity to influence some of your thinking.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

But it will take more money off of a large number of people.

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

I want to ask about the Congestion Charge; I agree that polluters should pay. This obviously may spur people to buy cars that are less damaging for the environment, but it may be that many families may need time to buy different cars or get rid of the ones they have got so I am interested in the timescale. You mentioned I think 2008 and 2009; is that a realistic timescale?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 12 July 2006

One final question: why is it do you think that given the drive to persuade people to convert to cleaner cars is it so expensive right now for people who want to make that conversion to clean engines? I understand that figures of £5,000 are bandied around because they have to go to an approved TfL garage to have work done on their car. It is actually very expensive. Wouldn't one of the most sensible things you could do at this stage be to actually provide a bit of carrot rather than stick?