• 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?

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

But you are not prepared to do what you do with housing and actually look at targets for affordable office space?

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

Finally, do you see the need for a greater variety of office accommodation? It is not just about providing City financial institutions with office space. There is a need for office space for all sorts of organisations and perhaps we need targets for affordable office space for a whole range of organisations who might need them so they are now just squeezed out by the big corporate conglomerates.