GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY London Assembly 28 January 2004 Report No: 7 Subject: Questions to the Mayor Report of: Director Of Secretariat 1 / 2004 - Unpaid affiliation fee Darren Johnson Why has the GLA not paid its affiliation fee for the Association of Nuclear Free Local Authorities? Will it be paid? If so, when? 2 / 2004 - Local Nature Reserve Hammersmith & Fulham Darren Johnson Given that your Biodiversity Strategy states that boroughs are expected to declare suitable sites as local nature reserves and to manage these sites to benefit local wildlife and local people, will you be working with the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to ensure that woodland adjacent to the Olympia exhibition car park to is turned into a local nature reserve in line with the wishes of local community organisations? 3 / 2004 - Traffic Lights Brookmill Road Darren Johnson In answer to my previous question, you said that TfL will be checking to ensure that the signals at Deptford Broadway operate correctly, but will you agree to review the timing of the signals so that residents of Brookmill Road do not continue to face unacceptable build-ups of traffic? 4 / 2004 - Waste Minimisation Darren Johnson What can you do to encourage public galleries and museums in London to use re-usable rather than disposable products for their catering? 5 / 2004 - Biggin Hill Airport Darren Johnson Given that the incoming flight path to Biggin Hill Airport is directly over the new Princess Royal University Hospital with 20 or 30 twin jets passing over at about 700 ft. each day at present, can you use your powers as Mayor to demand a Health Impact Assessment? 6 / 2004 - Nuclear Trains Darren Johnson What do you think international visitors would make of an Olympic Stadium being sited next to a route for nuclear waste trains? 1 7 / 2004 - London Forum of Carers Jenny Jones A recent conference I hosted for the London Forum of Carers called on the Government to make the freedom pass available to carers when travelling with their cared-for person. Could you offer your support for lobbying the Government on this and will TfL examine the costs and practicalties of doing this in London? 8 / 2004 - Air Quality Limits Jenny Jones Has TfL looked at the implications for its current infrastructure plans of the decision not to expand Heathrow in the near future because it would be rejected at public enquiry on the grounds that it would break the European Union air quality limits? 9 / 2004 - Air quality and the East London River Crossing Jenny Jones Will you call a halt to your plans for the East London River Crossing if the Environment Impact Assessment shows that the extra traffic generated will prevent the link roads from meeting the European Union's air quality targets? Have Transport for London received legal advice on the likely success of such a challenge and if so, can you share this with us? 10 / 2004 - Stratford and air quality Jenny Jones Does TfL consider the impacts on traffic and air quality when making comments on proposals for major developments such as Stratford? Does TfL raise the issue of meeting the E.U's. air quality targets, as part of its assessment of the potential traffic impacts of such developments? 11 / 2004 - Wildlife in Barnet Darren Johnson Will you accept an invitation by the London Wildlife Trust (Barnet Group) to visit Barnet and see at first hand the threats facing the Welsh Harp and other sites in the borough? 12 / 2004 - Victoria Station Darren Johnson Will you review plans to replace the fixed stairway at Victoria underground with an escalator? If London underground press ahead with their plans to remove the fixed stairway between the booking hall and the Victoria line it will in effect prevent guide dog owners from using three of the four lines that serve the station. 13 / 2004 - Deptford pensioners Darren Johnson Will you agree to meet with Deptford Action Group for the Elderly (DAGE) to explain what you plan to do for pensioners? 14 / 2004 - Biodiversity Darren Johnson What steps have been taken to ensure the London Boroughs have embraced and implemented your biodiversity strategy and associated action plans within the borough’s UDPs, particularly in view of the widespread consultation? 2 15 / 2004 - Tree Preservation Darren Johnson Could the Mayor investigate the practical effective status of T.P.O.s for the protection of London’s trees from the widespread green space and backlands developments which happens throughout Greater London? 16 / 2004 - The TGB Matrix Jenny Jones Have you asked TfL, or the LDA, which sections of the population in the Thames Gateway area will benefit most from building the East London River Crossing? Will it be the socially excluded in the London arc of poverty, or will it be the fairly well off commuters who makeup three quarters of the rush hour trips across the bridge? Would you ask TfL to use its own trip matrix to analyse the business case for who benefits most and whether the purported regeneration benefits will go to the people who you claim to be helping? 17 / 2004 - Ultra Light Rail Darren Johnson Will you ask TfL officers to meet with the proponents of "Ultra Light Rail" and investigate the feasibility of such a scheme in London? 18 / 2004 - Budget Darren Johnson Have all your spending plans been assessed to see whether they conform to the principles of sustainable development? 19 / 2004 - Lobbying for legislation change regarding travellers Andrew Pelling Thank you for your answer to my question 2158 on travellers. Whilst I appreciate the previous answer's desire to seek practical steps to increase co-ordinated provision of travellers' sites, do you see there being a role also for the GLA to lobby for legislative change that gives greater protection to non- travellers, local authorities, public bodies, private companies and societies from those travellers who abuse their legal rights by dumping a huge amount of commercially collected waste on informal sites they squat upon? 20 / 2004 - London Regional Aggregation Body Andrew Pelling What work has been done, and can be done, to work with London boroughs to encourage them to procure broadband facilities through the London Regional Aggregation Body? 21 / 2004 - Erith Marshes Darren Johnson Given your shameful decision to back planning permission for a large industrial business park on Erith Marshes, can Londoners ever believe you are serious about protecting green space and biodiversity? 22 / 2004 - London Travel Report Darren Johnson Is it indicative of the emphasis in your transport strategy that neither walking, nor cycling feature significantly in the London Travel Report 2003? Do you think that this report should also look at who owns and uses cars in London? 3 23 / 2004 - Political Donations Darren Johnson Given you stated commitment to political transparency, do you think it is right that someone who receives donations as an independent candidate for Mayor should be able to transfer those donations to a political party's mayoral campaign without the express permission of the donor? 24 / 2004 - Tube Maintenance Darren Johnson What has Tube Lines been asked by LUL to suspend the station modernisation work on the Northern Line? How much is this delay costing? 25 / 2004 - Private Hire licensing timetable Jenny Jones Given the number of drivers given a temporary license who decide to drop out when forced to apply for the more rigorous tests of a full license, is the current timetable of March 2006 giving a large number of dodgy drivers the chance to continue operating for another two years? Is there a strong argument for increasing the number of inspectors? Have the PCO calculated from existing trends the number who will fail to apply for a full license between now and March 04? 26 / 2004 - Increases in Council Tax affecting senior citizens Andrew Pelling I meet a lot of senior citizens in my Sutton and Croydon constituency who find that they just cannot find the money from their fixed incomes to pay for the doubling of the GLA precept and other large rises in Council Tax. Some are eligible for benefits, others are not eligible for benefit until their savings are used up; many say they will just have to sell up and move to a lower rated property because of the repetitive and incessant huge increases in the Council Tax. In short, the doubling of the precept is one of a number of key elements in forcing senior citizens from their established homes. What advice would you like me to pass on your behalf to these residents who are expressing great concern on this issue? 27 / 2004 - Rape Crisis Federation Darren Johnson Is the Mayor prepared to pressure the Home Office to restore much-needed funding to the Rape Crisis Federation? 28 / 2004 - Graffiti on London Underground Darren Johnson What action is the Mayor taking to eradicate graffiti on London Underground trains and premises? 29 / 2004 - Policing in Brent Darren Johnson When can people in the London Borough of Brent expect police on the beat to become visible? 30 / 2004 - Smaller People Noel Lynch The height of the binoculars outside London’s Living Room discriminates against the vertically challenged. Would you back a move to have steps installed? 4 31 / 2004 - GLA recruitment from London’s Irish community Noel Lynch In view of the GLA’s aim to have a workforce reflecting the ethnic composition of London, why are GLA vacancies not advertised in the London Irish press? 32 / 2004 - Trent Park Country Park Noel Lynch Do you agree that Middlesex University’s proposed expansion should take place on its recently acquired Tottenham Hale site and on other available brownfield sites in North London, such as the previous Business Innovation Centre site in East Enfield, and that the expansion should not take place in Trent Park, which is an outstanding area of green belt and a fine country park with excellent public access? 33 / 2004 - Business Park development on Erith Marshes Noel Lynch The GLA’s planning report on this development, dated 17 December 2003, states that The (London Development) Agency has been closely involved in the development of the scheme and in particular securing over £6m of Sustainable Communities Fund funding.