Re: How long until
the intent of the Act is largely to legitimise activity that was already going on
No, no it isn't.
ISPs were not logging this data because it wasn't required for billing, unlike say phone records. That's entirely new capability. It also doesn't legitimise or de-legitimise anything GCHQ were up to, nor does in grant on oversight to civilians to take them to any sort of task; even if we assumed they were capable.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
