• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Consultation has only got validity if those who are being consulted believe they can influence the outcome of the proposals, either to change and stop them or, indeed, at the end sometimes agree with them. TfL are planning to build a new bus depot at the corner of Horn Lane and Western Avenue in Ealing, and in a written answer at the last Mayor's Question Time you stated there would be no special consultation procedures for the bus depot. But Ealing itself is giving the impression that the planning permission which is sought is virtually a foregone conclusion. I wonder...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Thank you very much, and I thank Peter Hendy for acting so fast. He told me the reason for this error was the printing timescale, which went all wrong. But this is a very sensitive issue in this area because of the closure of Richmond Park. So there is a lot of transport that goes up and down Roehampton Lane and Priory Lane and is now going to go to Roehampton Estate. That is our worry, with two schools in there and lots of children around, the worry that all this transport that cannot get down Roehampton Lane because of...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

When you are consulting on a new project, do you think it is responsible to draw people's attention to the environmental impact of that scheme?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Contracting is an obvious point to do it, but more widely and in terms of forward planning, so that there is genuinely a change of culture, because I think one of the criticisms from our side is, despite all the fine talk here about changing the culture in TfL, it has not actually flowed through as we have seen from the exchange just five minutes ago, in terms of a change of mentality, so that they genuinely are not adopting a `we know best', they are genuinely listening and genuinely giving an honest answer, rather than simply saying `no, that...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Sticking with consultation and the benefits of listening, incidentally I should welcome the start this week of a trial of a new bus service, the 603, from Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage, which has only taken six years' worth of campaigning from local people and Liberal Democrats to get that one to a trial stage. Is it not high time - Lynne (Featherstone) to the fore on that one - that we had a proper system so that communities and individuals could actually propose new bus routes or alterations to existing services, with TfL and London Buses inviting those in...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

I think the point is that they need a lot of fine-tuning very often and very detailed response, because five minutes either side of the timetable can make a huge impact on local issues and safety for the school.

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

Of the people who responded.

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

It is you who is hoisting a new bridge on the working class people and the extra pollution and extra traffic congestion, which will end up killing people.

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 14 January 2004

I think we very much welcome the development and implementation of the consultation toolkit in TfL, because although things are not yet perfect, and we will always all find one occasion where there has been a problem, I think there has been a major systematisation of this and an improvement therefore in accountability. But can I make a plea for a particular group of stakeholders in general, which is, are the schools to be consulted, and a little bit more actively and perhaps listened to more? There is I think, across London, a "schools out" problem, and if you look...