• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

I accept the difficulty, which is why I focused on the new builds for which official Government figures show that even though there has been a modest increase for the last few years, if you go back 10 years we were building more houses in London than we are now, even after four years. I will focus on affordable housing because since you were elected homelessness in London is up 14,000 and overcrowding is amongst the worst in the country with something like one in ten households in inner London overcrowded. The 50% planning target for affordability is welcome, but...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

I could give you a `Cook's tour" of boroughs in London of every political complexion who are doing their job in scrutinising planning applications and listening to local concerns. Of course, there are delays and if borough planning processes were quicker that would help, but you cannot seriously pretend that is the problem. The problem is that you have been in office for four years and the housing crisis is worse at the end of the four years than it was at the beginning. Would you not agree that we need a concerted and co-ordinated campaign involving the private sector...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

Last week, I had a meeting with Terry Morgan, the Chief Executive of Tube Lines, who said that the service charge part of the £360 million was actually paid upfront in advance and not when the bill was due.

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

I am a great supporter of us being the masters of our own destiny, especially when the Mayor is Simon Hughes and not yourself. However, I do think it is still vital, and I am sure you would agree, that we make the case for London. I think there has to be some worry about both your and TfL's financial performance. Returning to the Tube underspend. You said at the Budget Assembly that with regard to the £345 million which is split between the two tranches, the money was accounted for and that the bills would fall due. Is that...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

The question was originally about your lobbying efforts, which allowed you to tell us how well you have done in securing the permission to borrow. However, this is not free money. Who is going to pay to service the debt?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

Given that east Londoners do need to cross the river, why is the priority to build a six-lane road bridge, which will bring traffic from all over the country thundering past people's homes, rather than train links?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

In terms of getting hard cash out of the Government rather than just borrowing, you seem to be doing an awful lot better at making the case for London in terms of road building which will actually harm London's environment rather than public transport improvements which will enhance it.

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

In the report that went to the TfL finance committee on 27 January, one of the reasons which I think you are reiterating, is that some of the programmes outside the PPP contracts have not been advanced by the Infracos at the rate anticipated and so costs have yet to be recovered. That was not my understanding of the situation, but we cannot argue that here. There are two different people saying different things. Can I ask you to list the underspend in detail on each of the programmes and the timelines that you have set forward? Because I get...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

It is a £180 million dip in the first years when it starts to go down but it goes up to about a £0.5 billion dip by 2005. I welcome the prudential borrowing, although bonds would have been better. I read in the Financial Times that all local authorities now have the freedom to borrow without any limits. Ministers hope that will provide hard-pressed councils with a financial lifeline and you were the financial lifeline. But is that not really a matter of Labour underfunding? There is no way out, they are in trouble and because of the problems of...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 25 February 2004

But what will that mean in the long term? Will there be fare increases, will it go on the Council Tax or will it mean cutting projects to pay for this?