• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 28 February 2001

I asked about the involvement of the Carnival company. The Carnival held gatherings at Wormwood Scrubs in the very early days, so I think that people with wisdom about what happened then should be part of the decision making.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 28 February 2001

Savannah Park.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 28 February 2001

Thank you for that. The Labour group welcomes the proposal in the report. We have a couple of concerns, though - first, that the siting of the savannah might be subject to a lot of nimbyism; I will say no more about that. Secondly, what role will the private Notting Hill company have in determining its future? Where will we go now with the work of this review?

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 28 February 2001

I know that John Biggs is referring to a situation which many of us are finding in our constituencies - that borough transport sections are very much under strength, because Transport for London is offering interesting pay and conditions, including private health insurance. I wonder whether the Mayor would endorse the private health insurance offer in the TfL package - and, I recently read, in the GLA core package as well.

• Question by: Meg Hillier
• Meeting date: 28 February 2001

You were surprised to learn about the health insurance. Is that something that you would consider instructing officers to withdraw from terms and conditions? What about those officers who have already joined on this basis?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 11 July 2001

I was specifically referring of course to the fact that you play a link between investment in public transport and the reduction in car use. You are saying we need an awful lot more, so in your view an awful lot more needs to be done before you would see car use being reduced?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 11 July 2001

Okay, if this is the debate that we are going to be having, if actually one said that people needed less space internally, more space externally and more communal facilities in terms of shops or infrastructure or whatever, I mean that is social engineering of a sort, isn't it? I am just trying to test your thinking. You could say that in affordable housing or social housing - let's be controversial - people need less space and you can have smaller areas in which you live, well designed so you have got the quality you are talking about, and that...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 11 July 2001

I am getting slightly confused, are you saying that through your work you are going to be recommending less space per person or more space per person as a standard for the sort of work that you are doing? My understanding is that the standards are set for minimum requirements for a family of X size -- are there no space/person requirements or are you going to set some? Well you said the standards in Holland, so maybe I misinterpreted you, gave a third more space. What did you mean? A third more space than what? And for how many...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 11 July 2001

Do you think that perhaps the way in which the targets for affordable housing are currently framed - 50% divided: 35% for rent, 15% for intermediate - is that likely to be an incentive or a disincentive to developers?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 11 July 2001

That is helpful. One particular issue that concerns us already is the question of how we actually give developers incentives to build the sort of high quality and acceptable new developments that we want which are also affordable. I know that the Urban White Paper, in response to the Urban Task Force Report, argued that we would not get the urban renaissance that we are hoping to see without incentives for developers to build in the cities. What specific incentives should the Mayor be giving developers to build in London?