THE Home Office has launched a consultation on the proposal to put a police HQ on an area of Wanstead Flats during the Olympics.

The consultation, launched today, is on proposals for a temporary amendment to the law to allow the Met Police to put a briefing centre on Wanstead Flats for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Wanstead Flats is part of Epping Forest and has been chosen by the Met as a location for one of the three briefing centres that will be used during the Games, to deploy the estimated 10,000 officers that will be used on peak days.

In order to build the temporary structure, the Met needs to obtain a legislative reform order to amend the 1878 Epping Forest Act, which protects the Flats from buildings and enclosures.

The move has been met with opposition from residents living nearby and various groups.

At a meeting in Wanstead last month, which the police organised to hear concerns, officers explained that a number of sites were considered but the Flats was the only one of sufficient size, with good enough road access, and close enough to the Olympic Park in Stratford.

Alan Cornish, of Friends of Wanstead Park, told the Guardian: “In the nicest way, they're trying to steamroller over us.

“The definition of consultation that they're using is that they're telling us what they're going to impose.”

The Home Office has said the amendment to the 1878 Act would be time limited to 120 days and specifically for the Olympic and Paralympic policing operation.

In a statement released today the Home Office says a condition of the amendment would be that no lasting powers relating to Wanstead Flats or Epping Forest would be conferred on the police or any other bodies, and the Act would revert back to its full protection at the end of the period.

Baroness Neville-Jones, Security and Counter-Terrorism Minister, said: "London 2012 poses a unique policing challenge and this temporary amendment will help to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as safeguarding the long term needs of the local people in the Wanstead Flats area.

"The proposed amendment to the Epping Forest Act is time limited and will expire once the Games has finished.

"There is no intention to make this permanent, it is important that this well loved space is preserved for future use."

The consultation is open to the public and runs until December 9.

Visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/consultations/