I wanted to offer my support for the proposed planning application. I first moved to Forest Hill seven years ago with the hope that it was on the up but to be honest for the most of that time I have considered moving away as it was looking like Forest Hill would be forever stuck in the doldrums of shabbiness and would be for ever known as that place the South Circular passes through. Though still shabby in parts Forest Hill does now, at last, look like it might be changing for the better and might, just might, be able to shake off it's tatty image. This has not happened by chance. The change has come around due to forward thinking people taking risks and putting themselves and their livelihoods and reputations on the line. We all love to see the change in Forest Hill, we like being able to have a coffee or catch a tube train, or , when the pool opens, to be able to go swimming or just simply to see the value of our properties rise but how many of us can honestly say that we have contributed in some way to the redevelopment of SE23. We continue to need these people because it will be their daring speculation that will allow Forest Hill to evolve into a suburb that people will be happy to visit and even happier to live in. For me these people range from the new cafe owners, pub landlords, developers, our councilors, The Forest Hill Society, and ordinary people like Jeff Lowe who put a lot their energy and finances into making the area better so we can have a good place to live.

This is why I think that you/we should support Jeff's planning application. To continue this change for the better, Forest Hill needs to step further away from the hum-drum and ordinary towards the extraordinary and I think that this building would go a long way to helping that process. History has shown that there have been many controversial pieces of architecture that when complete have gone on to become prized attractions. Take the Pyramide du Louvre in Paris..Wikipedia says "The construction of the pyramid triggered considerable controversy because many people felt that the futuristic edifice looked quite out of place in front of the Louvre Museum with its classical architecture" Well we all know that The Pyramide went on to invigorate visitor numbers to the Louvre and today is an icon of modern French architecture. If we continue to oppose these entrepreneurial adventurers then we run the risk of them taking their projects elsewhere in London and we and Forest Hill will lose out on any benefit that we might have had.