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• Question by: Stephen Knight
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Stephen Knight (AM): To pick you up on the point you have just made around the high property values in London, compared, I believe with most other developed countries, we have very few property and wealth taxes in this country; we predominantly focus on income and sales taxes. I just wondered to what extent you think the high cost of housing in London is partly driven by the fact that it is a tax free growth area for people, by which I mean it is a tax free investment and therefore that has partly driven the speculation that has driven...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Goodness me. I think this is a very worthwhile debate although it may seem a bit arid to some observers and we need to make sure we do not get too academic about it. Would you agree with me that around the world probably the single greatest source of income for city governments tends to be, in one shape or form, from properties? You have said a couple of times now that property taxes are so visible and so potent that virtually all political parties play 'chicken' with each other. Well, the opposite of 'chicken'; they are scared to look...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

Nicky Gavron (AM): While we are on land and talking about the planning system, currently the Assembly's Planning Committee is looking at the community infrastructure levy (CIL). That is, to a certain extent, a fixed charge, although there are lots of complications because it is set different in different boroughs and there is not necessarily a duty to cooperate and so on. On top of that is the Mayor's own CIL. I was wondering, this CIL is for Crossrail, but is the Commission going to look beyond that to the way CIL might be used by the Mayor in the...

• Question by: Nicky Gavron
• Meeting date: 24 October 2012

In the same spirit, how far are you going to frame for the Mayor any of the mechanisms he might be thinking about for the comprehensive spending review for London?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

David Wechsler added:

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

Is all the alternative supply through the mains, or are you looking at making mobile supplies available or bottled water available?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

I was just looking back at Mr Wechsler's answer to the question on water supplies. He talks about a utilities sub-committee for London that was looking at dealing with this problem. Does that committee include representation from suppliers other than Thames Water, because certainly those of us in outer London often have our supplies from other organisations? I live in Romford. I get my supply from Anglian Water.

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

If we were to, for whatever reason, lose a large amount of Thames Water supply, would they be called on to fill that gap, and would they have the capacity to be able to do that?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

I notice that the surrounding county councils, of course, are the responsible authority for civil defence and emergency planning. Do you think perhaps it is an advantage that they are able to plan at a county, as opposed to a borough, level? Is that something you should learn from London's point of view? Secondly, I also note that the very helpful plans, which you have detailed, Mr Wechsler, are made available to the public, both on, for example, Oxfordshire County Council's website and Surrey County Council's website, and that Surrey, indeed, has a dedicated SurreyAlert website. Do we propose to...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 08 December 2004

I just wondered if people might more logically think we would go to a London alert website, rather than a Bexley alert or a Hammersmith alert.