If Jeff considers all shades of opinions to be valid why does he castigate and try to publicly humiliate those who dare voice an alternative view of his proposals on a thread that has been set up - in fact by another member of the Forest Hill Society- for that purpose.?

I have just had someone point me in the direction of his comments on the blockbuster thread and its just unbelievable that someone feels justified in launching a fairly vitriolic personal attack on someone else just because they won't support their application and on the majority of Forest Hill'ers for tolerating ( even though they can't do much about it) the arrival of another Pound shop. Frustrating such a venture might be to people who want a more upmarket Forest Hill, these shops are here because they have identified a market. The truth is that incomes remain low in this area in general and people clearly find these businesses meet a need. Apparently also the good people of Forest Hill are ''Clampets' whatever they may be. Unfortunately I have no idea about that reference but I am assuming that its not intended to be flattering.

I said I had no wish to see another fax bureau and the like, but I preferred that to empty shops. This and my wish to portray a realistic picture about expectations of Forest Hill however provokes a response such as 'my cheap and nasty manifesto' and other completely unbelievable commentary.

So Jeff thinks we Forest Hill'ers currently all live like pigs in **** at present. However shabby it might be in parts, I cannot accept that its ****. This is a real disservice to those living in places of real economic decline in this country and elsewhere. Its also a real disservice to FH. And the tone of elitism a real disservice to such an artist of international repute.
Jeff seems to be concerned about the overall image of FH so why does he insist on doing it down all the time? I can appreciate that incidents outside one's home as described by Jeff as taking place at 5pm are not very nice, but does that really justify one building an effective cordon around one's proposed home? Its not an option available to many of us.

Like a lot of people, I like seeing business maintain their presence in Forest Hill particularly those which stay around for a long time. I was some time ago therefore particularly dismayed when Jeff launched an attack on MacKays for installing a new sign without planning permission. This was a business that had been established in FH for many years and one of the few survivors. It did not make sense to me to make a fuss about something so trivial and risk making MacKays think twice about staying here. We needed to be tolerant of minor indiscretions in supporting of such businesses staying here. Other overtly advertised businesses were also the focus of much discontent however whilst not the prettiest spectacle these businesses are what is keeping FH open and economically viable at present. We are not going to get to aesthetic nirvana if we end up with more and more empty shops. But as Jeff says, he and I are poles apart. He wants to create a different type of Forest Hill, others like me are trying not to lose what we've already got.