Boris fields business questions

Why is delivering a reliable transport infrastructure so hard? (David Lindsay, David Lindsay Photography)

"We were the first to invent the tube system 153 years ago, but it never occured to the original builders that you might want to have two tunnels in case one got stuck. It's those sort of blunders that we're having to deal with now.

"If you look at the transport projects we're working on at the moment, we've got some fantastic people working on schemes such as Crossrail. Some of these projects can be delivered on time and on budget, like St Pancras station.

"Delivery of a first-class transport system will become difficult if not impossible if the Labour Government decides it has to cut corners and it can't fund the tube upgrades."

Aren't we kidding ourselves if we think we can find the money for the Thames Estuary airport project? (Caroline Escott, researcher for Foresight Consulting)

"I think there has to be a better solution than the third runway at Heathrow. People think this is not worth pursuing, but if you drive through West London you have to consider the impact of congestion that will be caused by a third runway, not to mention the impact of the hundreds of extra flights over that part of London.

"The third runway is a misadventure and an entrenching of a gross planning error from the 1940s. I will resist it.

"I don't think it's responsible not to provide an alternative solution so we're canvassing opinion around the perimeter of the city.

"The novelty of the Thames Estuary airport is that we would be using the new technology available to build islands in the stream. That's one solution.

"You could look at the expansion of Manston airport. It would be irresponsible not to look into that.

"As far as financing goes, believe me, I've been staggered by the number of people who are interested in the potential benefits of investing in infrastructure."

I live 15 minutes from Heathrow and I moved there because of the airport. What makes you think that if you built another one you wouldn't end up with the same development around that one? (Anthony Gould, managing partner ASG/IMC)

"If you go to the Thames Estuary site, the visual impact on both the Kent and Sussex cost is virtually nil.

"Heathrow is a wonderful airport and we all use it. The experience could be considerably better, but I don't think it's sensible to continually expand your main airport slap bang in the middle of your western suburbs.

"It was a very eccentric planning decision which I think it would be foolish to exacerbate without looking at other options.

"But I'm not proposing we should get rid of Heathrow."

Now you've ended the congestion charge in West London, are you going to consider abolishing it for the rest of London? (Robert Malleson, director of RPM Associates)

"At the moment, I have no such plans.

"It's right to get rid of the western zone because the previous occupant of my post told the people of London they would have a say. They said they didn't want it and he imposed it anyway.

"It will be going by the end of this year or the spring of next year. There's another consultation process to grind through.

"When we get rid of it, it will be a benefit to businesses, but it's vital we improve the air quality and take steps to reduce congestion in this city.

"Roadworks are throttling this city at the moment. We need to move to a permit scheme where people can't dig up the roads without a by-your-leave and leave enigmatic craters everywhere.

"I would also like our city to be the electric car capital of Europe."

Do you think SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are supported enough in London? (Jonathan Burge, sales and marketing director First Signs and Labels)

"I fell very resentful of the way they're treated by this Government. There are far too many barriers of a kind that they find very difficult to cope with.

"Why now? What do the Government think they're doing to the economy?

"It's the SMEs that will get us out of the recession. One thing that we're doing that I hope will help SMEs is paying all our bills within ten days, and I think that should be installed in Whitehall.

"I also want small businesses in London to be competing for and succeeding in acquiring Olympic contracts."

How do you intend to make sure City Hall will ensure a fair deal for small businesses? (Jo Tanner, director of Inhouse PR)

"We want to encourage small businesses around London to take advantage of the £13billion in procurement contracts available.

"We intend to expand and improve the Competefor website in the weeks and months ahead."

With contractor funding grinding to a halt, how are you going to deliver on housing targets? (Ed O'Donnell, design manager for Shirley Browne Interiors)

"It's a huge problem but a massive opportunity for us. Despite the flaccid progress of housing development, we can try to jumpstart development and keep the industry moving.

"We can do that by de-risking certain areas of land, so that if you want to come and develop on that land, you can do so and pay us back with the proceeds in due course.

"In the course of the next two weeks you're going to see a lot of activity on affordable housing. If you don't do this and invest in the housing market now, you'll allow the industry to whither, skills will be lost and when the market recovers the consequences will be all the more painful and difficult for Londoners to bear, as the prices will rise more than they can afford.

"Our 50,000 affordable housing target is going to be tough. It's an extremely difficult target to make but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, and we will work very hard to achieve it.

"I'm determined to keep going and I see no reason now to junk that target."

Will small businesses really have a chance of working on the 2012 games? (Guiseppi Vetrano, director of Vetraland)

"Yes. 860 contracts worth £3.5billion have been handed out and there are 75,000 contracts in the supply chain for the construction and preparation of games venues.

"It ought to be possible for London businesses who are interested to have a share of the action. If you can't penetrate the bureaucracy, do get on to us.

"We've set up the Competefor website to ensure people have a fair suck of the sauce bottle.

"There are competitive restrictions and legal restrictions that make it difficult for me to direct contracts to London businesses. I can't decree that this must happen. It's not in my power."

What measures are being introduced to protect pedestrians from cyclists who do not comply with the highway code? (Annie Pang, director of Adrian Salt and Pang)

"There's no doubt that there's a minority of cyclists that are giving the rest of us a bad name by abusing their privileges and scaring the wits out of us all.

"They need to be treated with the maximum severity and I want the penalties to be made tougher. I would like a draconian law for those who abuse their rights and cycle on pavements. It's antisocial and causes an air of apprehension.

"What I think we should do is considerably increase the fines from £30 to something like £130 for those that abuse their privilege.

"I think there are a lot of other things we can do to make London more pleasant to live in, such as planting more trees, getting rid of some of the railings and the chewing gum. But I think it would improve the amenity and the feel of London if it was felt to be a cycling city."

What do you think about the stifling effects of commercial rates, which are upsetting a lot of developers up and down the country? (Patrick Kennedy, The Vogue Gallery)

"It's not our direct responsibility but it's something we've raised repeatedly with the Government.

"I think at this particular juncture we've got to be doing everything we possibly can to relieve pressure on businesses, especially small businesses."

What do you plan to do to increase the safety of railway stations and the underground late at night? (Elspeth Graham, assistant director general CIPR)

"We've greatly expanded the number of Safer Transport Teams, predominantly on buses.

"We've also moved money from our advertising budgets to the British Transport Police to increase numbers. More stations will be staffed late at night which will greatly improve the security of travellers."

When will you address the importance of freight and cargo, which is a key part of the London economy? (Richard Currie, public affairs director, UPS)

"It's not just the passenger traffic we've got to keep moving forward.

"What we're doing to help freight move around London is the same thing that we're doing for transport of all kinds.

"We're also going to think about rephasing the traffic lights. I do think they've been unnaturally set to stay on red for too long and it's a huge aggravations.

"If you keep traffic waiting at lights, it produces more CO2 than it would if it was allowed to move more freely."

When snow fell and the London boroughs were responsible for gritting, the city kept moving. Why is it that when the GLA were in charge, the buses stopped? (Mike Tobin, director and senior consultant, Mike Tobin Consultancy)

"I've never heard such claptrap in my life. It's absolute nonsense.

"There were no fewer than 30 accidents before the order was given on Sunday night, including a big skid on The Strand in which someone was nearly killed. I don't think it would have been responsible in view of the number of accidents to keep the buses on the road after that.

"What happened the next morning is that it was the borough roads that were not sufficiently gritted.

"I don't want to blame the boroughs either, but the sheer quantity of snow made it very difficult for buses to move on the roads. "There was no order to stop the buses on Monday. They were told to go out if they could. But I think it would have been impossible to compel them to move.

"We had the right kind of snow. We just had the wrong quantities. A 12-tonne bus on that amount of snow is a very skiddy thing indeed."