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• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 10 November 2007

Hopefully by Christmas there will not be people living within the Olympic Park who will be subject to such immediate environmental challenges and problems. However, for the wider community, including people I represent across East London and including Jennette's [Arnold] constituency in Hackney and beyond, I think people would be a lot more reassured if we go back to the point that was made earlier about transparency; if there was a clear transparency about environmental information about dust levels and about pollution issues. I know I have been intimately involved in the issue about radioactive waste, for example, and I...

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Mr Higgins, I am grateful for that. Could you address Mr Hockney's point of why we learn about these problems, which Sir Roy (McNulty) has referred to, in effect from The Idaho Statesman. I think that is the point of Mr Hockney's question. Damian Hockney (AM): It is, yes. Brian Coleman (Chairman): I would be grateful if you would address that.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

The Mayor of London has expressed the argument in this way; that you could effectively deliver a no frills Olympic Games within the £2.375 billion envelope that was originally posited, but that in order to enhance the regeneration benefit additional sums of money are available. Now obviously he is a politician so perhaps he would put it that way. You are project people. Would you fundamentally agree with that analysis or do you think there are areas where even to deliver a no frills Olympics the pressures on the £2.375 billion are such that it would be difficult to provide...

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

In particular could you address the issue of VAT, Mr Higgins?

• Reference: 2006/0390-1
• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 15 November 2006

Mr Lemley was particularly concerned about the impact of political disagreements on the future of the main stadium. Is this not a repeat of exactly what went wrong at Wembley? We are particularly referring to the issue of whether it should be an athletics stadium or a premier league football stadium.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 14 June 2006

You would not have thought that if you were on the Northern Line this morning.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 June 2006

I do not share Mr Pope's anxiety yet about the East London Line and North London Line, but I do have an anxiety about Stratford domestic station. I note from your eyebrows that you might have such an anxiety as well. To what extent do the Olympics require its reconstruction, and would you agree that there is, at present, a fairly substantial risk in that we do not understand the full costs of reconstructing the station?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 June 2006

Would you agree then that the risk is that in the worst case one would have to do that with unknown costs associated? Assuming we can get the current owners to rearrange the station, part of the problem is it is a large Victorian structure which needs to have new subways and walkways and connections and escalators and so onput into it. Would you agree that the big risk at present is that the initial estimates for that cost were way below what the current numbers suggested might be costing?

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 14 June 2006

I think that brings us to the end of our hour and a half. Mr Higgins, the Assembly is deeply obliged to you for the time you have given this morning. Thank you very much.

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 June 2006

What would you say, then, to a student from Malmesbury, or their parents, who say `Well we have seen this before, and the whole area fills up with expensive housing which we could not even dream of buying? On balance, a lot of the jobs we used to rely on disappeared from the area and we seem to be down on the deal'. How are you going to play your part in making sure that is not the case?