• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

Could there not be a danger of a real imbalance here, because if you have several million pounds to throw around on legal costs, I doubt for example that local residents- associations in Bexley, or Greenwich Friends of the Earth are going to have the same sort of money to pay expensive lawyers as you? Could this not be a hugely imbalanced discussion at the public inquiry if you are prepared to throw millions and millions of pounds at trying to get your proposal through?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

The inquiry is part of the process, how can you just put that to one side and continue as if nothing has changed? The last time a similar proposal for a bridge came up it was defeated at a public inquiry and I hope it is this time.

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

From talking to my residents, the Neighbourhood Policing Teams have been a great success. Could you perhaps just explain how the precept you are asking for this year will add to the Neighbourhood Policing Teams?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

TfL has started preparatory work on the Thames Gateway road bridge. Given that this is now subject to a public inquiry, is it right to be ploughing ahead with this preparatory work in the same way?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

I am prompted by my colleague's point that it does not give any attention to Richmond, because some of my questions will become slightly more parochial. Within the budget, whether or not money is provided for the South London Partnership, bearing in mind despite promises that agreement of funding has not been provided, the LDA promised to do a lot of work on creative hubs, particularly in outer London. There was talk of £50 million coming that way. What has happened to that initiative? What is the underspending on the LDA's equalities and diversity budget? I am surprised to find...

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

In terms of the information we have had from TfL on bus fares, because we have been asking questions encouraged by a senior academic who complained at the Budget Committee about the difficulty of access to modelling on fares, the projection is that bus service journeys will go up 4-5%. What assumptions do you know have been about any corresponding use of the Tube? Do you assume a modal shift or do you assume that the bus will be used where people have not travelled by public transport before, or is it a mixture?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

Do you also accept that the evidence is pretty clear that the major growth in congestion in London is in the suburbs where we need to invest to get those levels of congestion down?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

Referring back to this question of the West London Tram, you made the assertion that opposition had collapsed to about 18%. With respect, what planet do your pollsters come from? There is a great deal more opposition to the tram than 18%, I can assure you. In our inquiry it came out that the tram was in fact extremely poor value for money. It is a very expensive option. Professor (Chris) Wright (Transport Management Research, Middlesex University) told us that nobody buys trams anymore, they are out of date. You are proposing to dig up the Uxbridge Road for 13...

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

I wonder if I could consult the Mayor further about the comment that he made in his presentation about the possible use of land presently held by TfL for housing. This is not an attack on such a proposal. We have long said, and I dare say the Mayor has as well, that land which is in public ownership should be used for public benefit in a way it has not been. He mentioned the figure of £28 million and I appreciate this is breaking news, as it were. What would suffer, what would go in the TfL budget, which...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 26 January 2005

Can I start by saying that members of my constituency and elsewhere in London need and want decent transport systems and I am sure that the work you have done to date with the Government is welcomed by the majority of Londoners. Can you just respond to the work that is being done by my colleagues, the Liberal Democrats? It would appear that 35% of people told them on their online site that transport should be the top priority for the GLA budget. What would they say about the current TfL budget proposals? Would they find that acceptable?