Legacy consultations
The LLDC was created using a newly formed Parliamentary Act, the Localism Act of 2011. The Localism Act was designed to be a tool to counter-balance the centralism of the State and devolve powers back to community and local government. How it affected community practice is a subject of debate central to the process of Legacy making. To begin with, the use of the Localism Act meant that of the three Olympic corporations, the Legacy Corporation was a relatively open entity.
From its formation at the end of 2012 Olympic Games the Legacy Corporation's Planning Department conducted a series of community consultations involving all the Olympic neighbourhoods.
Attendance at these meetings would vary but usually numbered about twenty members of the public. It was a long slow process that has brought aspects of community in touch with the 'Legacy mechanism'. Perspectives on these consultations varied within community on the key aspects of the Legacy Corporation's strategy such as the handling of real estate assets. Nonetheless the process was a very public affair, almost a legacy of its own.
After a round of initial consultations, late in 2013 the Legacy Corporation released the draft Local Plan, a thorough and detailed 235 page document which laid out provisions for housing, sport, green spaces, health centres etc to enable the public to respond. With this draft the process of translating the much publicised Legacy promises into reality began.
Working with different community groups, responses in this project were submitted on 3 aspects of the proposed Local Plan that referred back to the original Legacy blueprint with its key promises:
- protecting quotas for affordable housing
- the inclusion of a land trust in the Local Plan
- return of community allotment spaces
