The golden days of OlympicsJPAT

Now that the London Olympics 2012 are under way, a few TV viewers, in the gaps between being thrilled by the sporting prowess on show, may ask who gave planning permission for all these buildings in Stratford, East London,  to be erected.

I have written about this at some detail for Corporate Watch UK, but one quick answer is that it all started in 2004 with something called the Olympic Joint Planning Authority Team. This was made up of  democratically elected councillors from planning committees of the four boroughs that circle the Olympic Park.

On September 9, 2004, it granted outline permission for the Park, which was then just a circle on a map, and gave permission for 50 or so trees to be chopped down. You might think this important body has had a busy time since then. But no; as soon as our councillors had given permission they were kicked out of the way, and an unelected Government-appointed body, the Olympic Delivery Authority, took over.

Democracy doesn't lie down that easily, however. And on August 20, 2010,  OlympicJPAT was still going strong, as its website, which has since disappeared, demonstrated: