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• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Zack Polanski AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Good afternoon, panel. Enver, if I can begin with you, I have met recently also with the Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants. I also went to a protest recently with Reclaim the Sea and spoke to lots of people with lived experience of the system. Something that came up over and over again that you have echoed today is the barrier of not speaking English. In fact, recent census data shows that 303,000 Londoners do not speak English well and 52,000 Londoners do not speak English at all. Page 32 You...

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 08 June 2023

Zack Polanski AM: Thank you, Chair. If I can turn to Caroline Sheridan from Thames Water, Caroline, the design of homes viz the clever devices that can capture rainwater and use that water, whether it is flushing a loo or watering a garden, and that can really reduce water usage, especially at scale. When we come to an updated London Plan and a new Environment Strategy, can the Mayor do more to reduce the mains water that is used in Londoners’ homes?

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 08 June 2023

Zack Polanski AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Good morning, panel. My questions are for Charlie Wood of the Environment Agency. As we are speaking, the news is reporting the horrendous wildfires that are happening in Canada and across North America. People are being asked to wear masks because of the air pollution. We have seen our own wildfires and floods in London, including last year the London Fire Brigade had their worst day in terms of callouts since World War II. Around flooding, you brought forward your own plans for a new Thames Barrier. That means you are going...

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 06 October 2022

Zack Polanski AM: Thank you. Lyn, if I can direct my questions to you, these are about culture and creativity. Hackney Wick and Fish Island were used as case studies, particularly in your Local Plan 2020-2036, highlighting them as a Creative Enterprise Zone. It strikes me that a lot of this was about redistributing existing space. What is being done to create new space, particularly for small creative artists?

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 08 September 2022

Zack Polanski AM: Thank you very much, Chair. We are in a climate crisis and we know that the solutions to the cost of living crisis, the energy crisis and the climate crisis are the same solutions. One of the biggest ones at the moment is that we need to insulate homes, so I want to ask you about your green jobs. Citizens UK has been in touch with me. In April 2021 it wrote to the Mayor to ask for an annual report on green jobs, particularly around insulating homes. Will we be getting those regular reports?

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 08 September 2022

Zack Polanski AM: Jules, as Deputy Mayor, I want to ask you a few questions about people seeking asylum. It is something you mentioned in your introductory remarks. First of all, just to applaud, really, that this is an important part of the work of the AEB. Now, I know that there has been a lot of focus on improving coordination of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). Could I ask what other types of course that you are looking to do, or are doing, for people seeking asylum?

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 09 June 2022

Zack Polanski AM: Good afternoon to you both. I would like to direct my questions to the Mayor. I would like to ask you about renewable energy. In 2019, we received a written answer that said that TfL were only using 200 megawatt hours per year of renewable energy. Now, that is 0.01% which is attributable to renewable sources. That figure is embarrassingly low. When you were challenged about this by my colleagues you did concede and you said, “You are right; we have to do much better[...] We do not want to wait until the mid-2020s”. Well, it is...

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 03 March 2022

Zack Polanski AM: My question is also for the Deputy Mayor. Deputy Mayor, I am certain that like myself and so many people ‑ in fact, everyone in this room ‑ you have been horrified by the nightly images we have seen on the news and on social media of the invasion of Ukraine, and I hope you will join me in saying loud and clear that refugees are welcome here. That is purely for humanitarian reasons. What I would love you to speak on, though, is what benefits new arrivals can have to London, to lift up our economy.

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 03 March 2022

Zack Polanski AM: Luke, I want to continue the conversation about high streets and I also want to bring it back to a conversation we had earlier about smart, privacy‑friendly, fair road user charging. If we look at high streets, we can look at Waltham Forest with the mini‑Holland. The evidence there is clearly that people spend more than when they are on foot than when they are in cars. In fact, TfL’s own research shows that pedestrians spend 40% more than people driving. Now, there are obviously health benefits, environmental benefits and safety benefits to reducing traffic and making...

• Reference: 2022/0479
• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 10 February 2022

How is the London Fire Brigade prioritising the need for adaptation in our climate emergency?