LFA: The People's Plan for the Royal Docks; 40th Anniversary Walk

This short walking tour will revisit key sites that tell the story of the People's Plan for the Royal Docks and its continuing legacy. Talks by key participants, past and present will recount its history and link past and present. Led by Sue Brownill who has extensively researched the Plan and was part of the original team , it will start at Jessie Brennan's artwork which places the plan in the current day.

At Pier Parade outside the site of the People's Plan Centre, Hilary Wainwright will talk about the need for the Plan, the process of drawing it up and the role of the GLC. Overlooking the docks Bob Colenutt and Marj Mayo will discuss the attempts to implement it and to gain community ownership of the land in the docks and Alberto Duman will reflect on the failed visions for Docklands that came after the Plan. Near the site of the public inquiry into the airport to which the plan was presented 40 years ago, extracts from the debates and discussion will bring to life the reaction to the plan and how the future of the area was set.

Finally at Art in the Docks in the Albert Dock Basin there will be a space for discussion and reflection and to hear from current day activists about the importance of past examples like the People's Plan in current work on the commons and community planning alongside an exhibition of documents and images linked to the Plan and the work of the Docklands Community Poster Project. This event is part of the London Festival of Architecture and speaks to its theme of the commons through highlighting the role of communities in developing their own plans and the importance of collective land ownership.