• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Based on the figures in the bid documents, we calculated that there were expected to be 9,850 car parking spaces; 2,053 coach parking spaces and our calculation is that reducing the car parking provision by just 15%-20% could free up enough space to avoid building on Hackney Marshes; to avoid building on Fish Island. We have had all this doom and gloom from Angie (Bray, AM) and from Damian (Hockney, AM) but if you could announce that the Olympics were going ahead without the need to build on Hackney Marshes or wreck Fish Island you would be welcomed as a...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I think there are some very persuasive arguments and I will seriously look at the figures because you mentioned the media and the athletes but the corporate sponsors have four times as many coaches as the media and twice as many as the athletes. I think there is some scope for scaling down in terms of coach provision and looking more at rail provision and so on, and secondly there is also scope for looking at alternatives for parking venues rather than Hackney Marshes and Fish Island. I think if you can pull this off, this would be an absolutely...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

My concern is that we often hear really good things from people at the top of these organisations but it does not filter down to the people who are doing the application of these policies. I am still concerned that the LDA, which is a very bureaucratic organisation, has not grasped the sort of things you are talking about.

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Mr Mayor, everything you are saying is great and, you know, it is wonderful. Wait, there is a sting in the tail. You were talking about organisations that have to raise their game like the Government, which is fair enough, but what about organisations that you do have some influence over like the LDA? Do you really think the LDA is doing everything it can on this issue? If you think about the whole price rises issue, link it with fuel poverty and then link it again with energy conservation, my view is that the LDA has not grasped this...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I am pleased with that in the short-term because I think that awareness is needed, but on the longer-term measures as well, Allan Jones' (Chief Development Officer, London Climate Change Agency) approach, in Woking, is very much about using combined heat and power and getting solar panels into social housing. Are we very shortly going to see a real take-up of green energy in social housing in London, which could be a means of reducing fuel bills for vulnerable people?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

Are you concerned that only nine London boroughs are currently on track to meet their targets under the Home Energy Conservation Act. What can you do to improve things for councils and get them to meet those targets?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I agree with the range of policy solutions you said were needed, but with energy prices having risen by 10% in the past year, and the Met Office prediction of the coldest winter in 40 years, we could be seeing a very significant surge in deaths this winter. Will the GLA be undertaking a promotional campaign to raise awareness, both about payment assistance and also about energy efficiency assistance that can be given to vulnerable people?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 November 2005

I agree with that, in terms of new developments. Also, in terms of retro-fitting existing developments, are we going to see initiatives in social housing to get down to that?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 18 October 2005

To pick up your point about transportation, I have here a quote from Tony Travers of the London School of Economics, where he says about Britain's dependency on cars: `the costs of public transport continue to rise faster than those of car use', and that is down to you. I put it to you, again, another survey from the London Chamber of Commerce: `65% of those questioned believe that trade could be rescued by introducing a charge-free period during the day, encouraging shoppers and diners to come back into the centre.' I suggest to you: if you must have your...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 18 October 2005

You say it is attitudinal. What you have done with the western extension is to sow uncertainty in the business environment. Businesses thrive on confidence. They need confidence in order to plan ahead. When there is uncertainty, that confidence evaporates. Businesses cannot plan ahead; they cannot see the way clearly to invest. What is more important is that the banks reassess the risk; they make it more difficult for businesses to borrow money, and the whole thing suffers. Businesses need confidence. The western extension has sown uncertainty for several years to come. What you have in fact imposed on that...