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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: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

OK. If we take the example of the Olympic Boulevard, that is the main Olympic marathon route back into the Olympic Park after they have done their 26 miles. The aspiration would be that that looks good on television, for example. That is not your responsibility?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

OK. There is an interesting challenge here which is that virtually the whole of the rest of the world is very keen to make sure that the Olympics do not go over budget, whereas a lot of my constituents in East London are very anxious to make sure that, in making sure the Olympics do not go over budget, we do not spend too little on the regeneration benefits for the area. The individual borough councils, for example, have aspirations as to how the Olympics will improve their areas. One that pops up is the Olympic Boulevard idea, supported by...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

Can I move on to the question of jobs and employment. There has been a lot of focus on the budgets ensuring that people are adequately trained to build the facilities. Do you have a responsibility for thinking about legacy land uses and the ways in which communities will benefit from those uses of land? The one that is held up very often is the Broadcast Centre which could become a major employment venue in the future. What is your role in that, or are you simply trying to get the cheapest building up quickly, do not care if it...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

I suppose I should declare, for the record, that I am the Deputy Chair of the UDC, although I would not accept that it is the only body responsible for this work.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

Right, OK. If we want to make sure that the boundaries, although you could physically walk across them after the Games, are softened to a point where a resident of Bow or of Hackney Wick can walk into the Olympic Park after the Games as if it was next door to them, and talk about responsibility for funding that and making sure it happens, is that again not your responsibility?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 25 April 2007

Sir Roy, how much of the £500 million construction contingency has so far been earmarked to be spent? There has been a lot of talk about this and a lot of rumours in the industry.