• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Can you explain how the LDA will ensure a bad Mayor, unlike our present excellent Mayor of course, who gave guidance which was not helpful to the LDA's corporate objectives, how such unhelpful guidance would be managed by the LDA? Do you have the systems in place to ensure that you make good, rigorous, forward-looking, consistent policy decisions?

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

On the ODPM, how convinced are they of the case?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

• Question by: Samantha Heath
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

We have worked with you extensively on our flooding report, and Darren Johnson actually signed up to that, so I was quite surprised at the Green Group's questioning. But the issues that we did identify that were of concern to the Committee were the commitment to the Green Grid, in terms of work you have done with the ODPM and we do recognise that the ODPM have actually recently announced more funding for the Green Grid. But I wanted to get a sense of how important they thought it was, and also to do with the Kate Barker report that...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

I am just astonished that so much planning can go on before you actually understand the size of the risk. There are aspects to the development which are clearly going to go ahead before you have the full report.

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Let us talk about some of these improvements that you referred to in your opening remarks, the Green Grid for example. I understand that, not only has only a tiny percentage of the money been raised for that, but also you have not actually secured the land yet. When is all that going to happen?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

I did not actually hear an answer to my question in there. I did ask what proportion of new homes will not be deliverable? I have got a very pretty map here which outlines where the development is going to be along the river, and it is clear that a huge proportion of those houses and buildings are going to be on flood plains. Now, I am not the only person to be concerned about this. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) have raised concerns about the issue of insuring these homes, simply because " you talk about one in...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Except you cannot actually roll out a Green Grid until you have got the land, and you have to have the land before any development takes place. This is not something you can impose afterwards; it has got to be there at the very beginning.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Is there a plan which is going to ensure all these things are placed back from the area that is potentially in danger? How do you actually, when you are doing that, speak to local residents and businesses who are in the high risk area and assure them that, just because you have not got public facilities there, that does not meant it is a no-go area?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 March 2004

Nor, I assume, do you put your police stations and fire stations and hospitals and emergency services that will need to respond to a flood within the flood zone?