• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Can you just outline to us what risks, financial or otherwise, are left with the GLA or the LDA, following this agreement?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Can I just direct your attention to an area where work could be done by yourself and that is looking at the resource currently held by the London Learning and Skills Councils and surely this is the time now to be getting that budget much more linked in with the LDA programme so that we can get value for money out of that, especially around the skills agenda.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Following that up then, just to be absolutely clear, the LDA budget is £475 million, I think it was, to purchase the land. The cost it is now expected to bear is about £1 billion. This may reduce because of something you call value re-engineering but we should assume for the time being it is about £1 billion. That will be borne entirely within the resources of the LDA.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

You will know as I know of the results coming out of the Health in London report that we launched last week which shows that we have need for extra resource; we have need to get more partnership working, especially within inner London and these five boroughs. What message can they expect to get from the LDA in terms of future projects mainly aimed at young people?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Another thing that I just recently realised, and I think the public do not really know about this, but along with buying their Olympic tickets they will get free travel on London Transport. Hopefully there will be a lot of take-up on that front. Is there anything more to add on that provision? Can you confirm that along with buying Olympic tickets, people will get free travel on the London Transport system?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Whilst I understand Darren's arguments, the importance of coaches should not be understated particularly for families going to the venues. Can you just reassure us that this is not going to be lost, particularly for those who may be travelling down from other parts of the country?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

It was more seriously damaged than it is at the present time but as you know, there is serious congestion on the south bank of the river and I would ask you if you would suspend the southern end of the congestion charge zone until the bridge is open to all traffic, as many drivers are now having to enter the congestion charge zone because of this closure.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

One of the key access points for these car and coach parking spaces will be via the Limehouse tunnel. Can I congratulate you, Mr Mayor and TfL for the early re-opening of the Limehouse tunnel this morning. Contrary to the doom and gloom of the TfL press releases, it has not taken until the end of November; it has been opened early. Is there any truth that the reason it has been reopened early is that there has been a sharp phone call from Clarence House after Prince William was stuck in traffic for two hours and should we now...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

You know that routes and access to the Olympic venues will be heavily used by bridges across London. Now, Battersea Bridge as you know has been seriously damaged but I just cannot believe the time taken to repair this bridge. It is a bit of a joke. If you compare it to the Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco which was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1989 but repaired by the Americans in a month, why on earth is TfL taking such a long time?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Just coming back to your exchange with Darren (Johnson (AM)), before we get too far into interesting flights of ideology, will you also perhaps make sure there is an injection of market realism into this and perhaps seek the advice of David James, (former Executive Chairman of the Dome) who ran the Dome, who discovered quite clearly that the Dome traded quite badly in the early stage when it had insufficient car parking and attendances picked up once adequate car parking was provided. Is that not also something you could take on board?