• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 27 March 2002

I suspect you didn't visit the site, and this shows here because in fact there is no trade off on this site, it is in fact a second stadium. The original stadium remains in effect and they are going to have two pitches, so there is no trade off. This is really annoying residents and they would be quite happy, as I would have been, with a development that stayed on the imprint, or even a bit larger than the imprint, of the existing stadium. But what we have here is 15 acres of Green Belt and Barnet Cricket Club...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 27 March 2002

The second point I wanted to raise develops John's point and is this: you made the point on a number of occasions that London is the lowest density city in Europe. Are you aware that one has to be very careful about comparing like with like and that many of the cities in Europe have city boundaries which exclude the bulk of the kind of low-density suburbs which are within Greater London. Does that not flag up the need to be careful in that comparison and using that as an excuse to push up densities in the suburbs needlessly? There...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

I think we can see that what we've got here today is a real problem, not with the fact that we're getting some new transport services but the actual consultation that precedes them. Clearly, there is something that's going wrong which is why we've got so many petitions, and so many petitioners here today. I hope that you do recognise that there is a message coming out loud and clear this morning, that TfL has got real problems with the way it relates to local residents when it is consulting on new schemes. There is a group of residents from...

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

Mr Mayor, this is a common problem; it's a local residential problem; it's a problem that people who envisage that they have a problem, have in trying to get people like yourself to do something about it. This issue has been going on for more than two years because my colleague, Samantha Heath, myself and lots of residents had a public meeting to which Dave Wetzel and the proprietors of G1 bus attended. Nothing has been done. The bus that is now put in down this narrow residential road is too large and an even larger bus is envisaged. All...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

Mr Mayor, I welcome your proposals about the way in which you deal with the petitions in future and I will take that to the Standing Orders Committee when we meet, I believe it is later this week. What I presented to you today is a petition of over 11,000 people, and only 2,593 people responded in Ealing to the consultation that TfL conducted. This is proper consultation with people; we've actually gone out and talked to people through the residents' associations. We haven't distributed 300,000 leaflets and, indeed, I don't know where the 300,000 leaflets went to in Ealing...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

Would you accept that there is a real concern by residents in the West Beckenham part of my constituency that, although there was a process of consultation when bus routes in the area were comprehensively changed following the introduction of Tramlink, they don't have any assurance that that consultation ultimately took on board the views of local people? We have a circumstance, therefore, in which Tramlink has improved access to Croydon but ignores the fact that the majority or residents want to go to Beckenham and Bromley, and the bus links have got worse. Are you prepared to take steps...

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

Would the Mayor accept, bearing in mind his experience in a past life as a councillor in the London Borough of Camden, that there is a unique community in Somers Town and would he further accept that Transport for London has failed adequately to take account of the wishes of that community in their rush to deliver this cross-river tram project?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

Were you aware that the Project Manager for Transport for London has said that the plans they consulted on were incorrect; that they should never have suggested diversion routes; and the consequences of this, in an area which might be, in principle, in favour of a tram, you will never know because the consultation was so flawed. Would it not be a good idea for you to go back to square one? Because whilst you say it was a straw in the wind, you are making decisions to move forward on this. I agree with Richard Barnes in this. Will...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

I am definitely in favour of expansion of bus routes and services, there is no doubt about that at all. Sometimes the type of service that is provided causes intense problems for some people in a small area. I know it's not a great strategic issue but for the people who live next to it, it can be absolute hell. All we're asking is that TfL should think carefully about what palliative measures they can offer. It might be a smaller bus; it might be changes to the hours; it might be local parking controls; but they cannot walk away...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 16 October 2002

When is a standard letter not a standard letter? I have a similar problem in my constituency as Elizabeth has, with an over-large bus going down a short, but narrow and difficult section of a route. When I raised it with you previously, Mayor, you kindly helped initiate a consultation. The consultation came back 4:1 in favour of re-routing and TfL have decided not to do the re-routing. There are, I think, social reasons why but can I just point out to you that one of the things I found bizarre about the consultation is that TfL have counted in...