• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

That brings us to an interesting thing because research shows that the fear of crime is not falling. If I look at what the populations in the other metropolitan districts pay rather than New York because, quite honestly, the Bronx and Staten Island do not mean a great deal to Londoners but Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester actually do. In the West Midlands, Birmingham, the precept per head of population is £17, in Greater Manchester it is £21, in Merseyside, Liverpool, it is £29 but in London it is £50. If we go up to your 35,000, which Sir John Stevens...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

What I have got is that you report to the Assembly that on 22 May, "I opened Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Primary School nature garden. I met with the Deputy Mayor and local residents to discuss the A406 Bounds Green on 22 May. I sent in my regular BBC monthly phone in on 22 May. Nothing else is reported. I am raising it with you as a matter of self-protection and transparency.

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

But making fairly rigid assumptions that trends are cyclical rather than structural, that does not suggest that that is `plan, monitor and manage'. You have got some fairly rigid assumptions.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

The point arises that you thought fit to report the opening of a nature garden, a fairly insignificant but worthwhile issue. No doubt opening the underpass was a worthwhile thing as well but given the sensitivity of the issue that you chose to talk about, would it not have been a sensible and transparent thing to have reported to the Assembly your presence at that function, which was apparently supported by the developers?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

It is a rather serious issue to have an oversight about, is it not?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

You also agreed in the past that it is important to report meetings with developers and that clearly must be the case when they are developers of a proposal that is currently before you. In you Mayor's report, you listed the engagements that you had on 22 May, including opening a school nature garden, meeting residents in Bounds Green with the Deputy Mayor and your monthly London phone?in. Why did you not report to the Assembly that on 22 May you had attended the opening of this underpass?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

The forecast in your London Plan, whether it is 8.1 million or 7 million, it is very much an old fashioned `predict and provide" approach. The buzzword in all the housing circles is about `plan, monitor and manage". Should we not be having a more sophisticated approach in terms of office space projections?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

Should not bringing the vacancy rate down be a priority over and above actually providing new office space if it is 15% at the moment?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

Is there not a danger of clogging up London with offices that are not necessarily needed just in order to fulfil your ambitions to transform London's skyline and erect more skyscrapers?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 16 July 2003

Are these large targets in the London Plan the reason why you are cosying up to developers such as Heron Corporation, Gerald Ronson, St George's and Tony Pidgley, as revealed in the Evening Standard yesterday?