The character of Forest Hill is overwhelmingly Victorian. The great majority of us choose to live in Victorian houses. This is our environment and it helps to define us. But we are not blessed by a great number of civic buildings dating from the same era. Two demolish two of the three key buildings at one fell swoop seems to me to be tremendous folly. One of the great things about this website has been learning more about the history of our area. So much heritage has already been destroyed. To name but a few: the station buildings, the great pumphouse, the Swiss Cottage! On walking about the area I'm often struck by how different - almost always how much better - the area would have looked with more sympathetic development.

Having said all of this yes, of course, something excellent, could be built in their place. But the Council doesn't think that long-term. It is intending to build a new pool that will last for 25-30 years (we had this from the horse's mouth at the Forest Hill Society AGM presentation from the relevant officials). I'm sorry but that's rubbish. It's cheap and it's rubbish. It means that far sooner than that the pool will be decaying and need replacing again. So, in twenty years, we will have moved from built-to-last premises in keeping with the area to a fading, design-by-numbers, piece of basic functionalism surrounded by densely packed housing stock - built to offset further the Council's stingy budget - that further undermines the heritage of the area. And then those of you who wanted them knocked down will think to yourselves: "Actually, d'you know......." but by then it will be too late.