Search questions

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

Thank you for that answer, but you will recall that one of the issues that was raised at the five-borough planning meeting was the legacy. Really my question is about what guarantees we are building in to ensure that facilities that are built really can have the revenue in order that they can carry on, and we are not left in a position with so-called `white elephants- around the place.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

Can I just press you: when you say "sign off" and "your assurance," we hear this, and people in Hackney and in east London have heard this time and time again, so can you just dig deeper? What do you mean? What guarantees are there that there will be a revenue stream and that these jobs that are created will stay local? I do not get a sense of what is happening and who is going to be leading. Will the LDA be leading on behalf of the Mayor to ensure that the legacy is longer than the Games?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

Can I just take you round to the people. One of the riches of the city and one of the riches of the Games pitch is the diversity and the ethnic minority communities that are at the heart of this area of London. What guarantees do they have that they will be seen as part of a future in terms of jobs, or will they only be brought out to serve at the banquets?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

Following on from that, all the legacy assurances and promises we have heard here today will all be handed over to an independent bid company. Could you just tell us about this company's accountability to the Mayor? How will we, then, as Members of the London Assembly have access to this company?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

The first is that I am a great fan and supporter of the Olympic bid, as I hope you know, not least because it benefits my constituents enormously. One of the assurances that I think some people in east London, where there is some residual cynicism about the bid, would like is assurances about the ways in which you are going to link the bid into local contracting, local recruitment, training of local people, and relationships with local schools, so that it will be a bid that strengthens the area. There is a history of colonial intervention in east London...

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

As the member for the area that Jenny just spoke about, I do have to start by just thanking Jenny (Jones) for her cross-party support on this. I also have to say this is has been a matter that has exercised the previous Member for this area, myself, and the elected members of the borough, and it was central to the discussion of the five-borough bids. All that could be done has been done, and it is one area where we have got some assurances, and also, the community are going to win before the Games, whether we get the...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

I know that quite a few detailed assurances and commitments have been made in this area already, but I think experience teaches us that you have to tell people again and again, and our job is to examine those proposals again. Are you happy after this meeting to make another written representation, to us, if you like, which could be used in communications in east London and which will clarify points about training; local contracts; the fact that you are going to get local firms, rather than Burger King or whoever, into the area; the fact that contractors will be...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

This is very important also to Athens, which is about overspends and who will meet the bill, because my sense - and this is a recurrent theme through today's questions - is a concern amongst some party groups and amongst Londoners, as well, that there is a potential outcome where there is an overspend which comes back to haunt us, like the Montreal Olympic Games of 1976, year, after year, after year. You have gone some way to answering this today, but again, it would be very helpful for us if there were a very clear, unequivocal statement coming out...

• Reference: 2004/0271-1
• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

What are the key factors for the IOC in making their decision?

• Reference: 2004/0274-1
• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 13 October 2004

What support has London's business community given to the bid?