• 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?

• 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?