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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?

• Reference: 2009/0122-1
• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 21 October 2009

To what extent have LOCOG been successful in ensuring value for money and adequate public consultation in relation to temporary venues?

• Question by: Gareth Bacon MP
• Meeting date: 21 October 2009

I am going to focus in on Greenwich, which, I am sure you are both aware, is becoming a slightly controversial area. A quick opening question: in the bid book the estimated cost for the temporary venues in Greenwich Park was £8.8 million. What is the current estimated cost?

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

And what is the answer to my question? Why did nobody provide coaches, buses or train tickets and depend on the parents driving 300-mile round trips every weekend?

• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

My final question is to Seb. Seb, does it worry you, as I am sure it should, that we keep reading things in the press about divers having to go to Sheffield and cyclists having to drive round the M25 in rush hour during the week in order to be able to train? Nobody could have foreseen that there were going to be problems with Crystal Palace? Surely these are the people that you are trying to inspire; these are the people that you are reaching out to so successfully. Once you realised that these people had to go to...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Lastly, can I just thank Sebastian [Coe] for his visit to my constituency and they were well received as he knows, but what he has left behind is big questions about when our young people going to be able to wear the 2012 badge like yourself and other city members! It seems a little bit odd, doesn't it? We talk about legacy in bricks and mortars and yet there is just the privileged few who are wandering around in their badges! I mean how is this? I have to say I gave my badge away when I got it at...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Can I go back to the sustainability announcement that was alluded to earlier and is presumably what you were just referring to, Seb. What is that? Is that further commitments or is that the reality behind the commitments that have already been given? That is the first question. Then in terms of the scope of it, you have said it was kind of biodiversity and so forth, but is it sustainability in an economic, social and environmental sense or is it essentially still environmental-related commitments?