I was in favour of demolishing Louise House and the front of the pool. I was also in favour of keeping the library in council control.

I don't mind admitting I was wrong about the first one, but my priority was always about bringing back swimming to the town centre, and I'm pleased that this was achieved.

Louise House still has some accessibility and heating issues (including a rather wobbly floor) before it can be a major community resource. My understanding from V22 is that work is progressing on these issues and the community room will be available once the work is complete. However, we were able to hold the Forest Hill Society AGM in the room back in October.

The "alt-library" is probably not as good as having paid staff running the library. But your elected councillors and mayor took a decision to withdraw staff support from this facility. As a result V22, Forest Hill Society, and Traders including P1971, were able to step in to ensure it has a future.

We are open to ideas about how we can improve the library and I would invite anybody on this forum particularly interested in the library strategy to contact me (michael@fhsoc.com), and join our community advisory board. Alternatively you can provide feedback on this forum, or to councillors, or in ward assemblies. It is really important that the library is the resource that the community want and that customers provide their feedback to us.