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• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Mr Higgins, you just mentioned the site. You said it was 'highly contaminated'. Those were your words. Now, in marked contrast to your brochure of photographs here, I have got some photographs which actually show the contractors at work. They are digging up, if that is the right phrase, a whole lot of dust which is blowing over the surrounding countryside and the surrounding residential areas. If that site is highly contaminated, don't you think that enormous efforts should be made to damp down the dust and make sure that the dust does not go onto surrounding areas?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Are you aware that there is a suspicion that there might be radioactive waste on the site? There were two instances I have come across. One was dumped in 1959 and another was dumped in 1953 and in both instances they say that the waste was possibly radioactive.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

I attended the meeting in Hackney Wick about a couple of weeks ago when people were actually complaining about the dust that was flying around, particularly over the Clays Lane Estate and in that general area. People actually said, 'Having inhaled this dust I felt a real sore throat and burning eyes and burning lips,' and people were coming up to me after the meeting saying, 'Can you do anything about this?' I felt that there was a real concern. Now I know that there has been quite a lot of contamination on that site. I have documents here which...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Alright, and your contractors, those people who are actually working on the site, driving these vehicles and what have you, are they properly protected, using properly protective clothing and all the rest?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Alright, are you aware that the River Lee has been tested for radioactivity and in fact I have a Capita Symonds document here which says, `That the levels were slightly higher than expected, not high enough to cause great concern,' and identifies, `Elevated levels of radioactivity above levels considered to be natural background level for the area'.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Yes, you are absolutely right. London generates an enormous amount of wealth - according to the London Chamber of Commerce about £13 - £20 billion - which is then taken by the Government and used to subsidise the rest of the country, if not Scotland. We can certainly do with more money. As far as Crossrail is concerned, the Mayor has said that is probably the most important project, even more important than the Olympics. Nevertheless, the Government still found themselves with a shortfall of over £300 million and turned to the City to stump up yet more money in...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

You have said the project is on track. You have also said the costs are rising substantially. Those two statements do not seem to sit very happily together to me. How can you be on track if the costs are rising substantially? The point I would like to make to you is that Londoners are contributing £625 million to this project and we have been assured by the Mayor that that money will go into infrastructure which will be a positive thing that Londoners can see their money has paid for. Do you support the fact that Londoners should not...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 11 October 2006

Well, I would have thought that the purpose of the LDA was to provide London with jobs and economic development. Personally, I do not really see the rationale for spending so much money which could have been directed elsewhere, to jobs for young people, whatever, on the Caribbean Showcase, when the Notting Hill Carnival was going on at the same time. I cannot make that connection, I am afraid. I just think that it is extraordinary that you should spend the money in this way.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 11 October 2006

That equates to a very neat and tidy solution. You move the allotment holders off to Marsh Lane for a period of approximately seven years, I understand, and then you move them back to another site approximately close to where they are now. Unfortunately it is not going to work terribly well because it takes over seven years to establish a new allotment site. Frankly, if the plot holder is going to be facing two moves within seven years, a lot of them will simply give up. Perhaps the diehards will carry on, but I do not see that this...

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 11 October 2006

May I put something to you? Here is a quotation from the Olympics designers, `What makes architecture exciting is the ultimate connection with everyday life, communities, topographies, things that are already there. We talk about growing rather than deploying projects. This comes out of an interest in discovering, experimenting rather than producing or perfecting what we know'. That is Farshad Masali, the Olympic designer. Now a little bit of out of the box thinking could surely do something. What you are proposing is, levelling the land, reducing it by eight metres and building a concrete path, a massive great concrete...