I haven't been in this argument for a while but I think all that considered the safest way to have a usable pool in Forest Hill within a reasonable time is to build it new from scratch and to do so you'd have to make best use of the land so that as much money as possible is derived from it.
It's a sad state of affairs but the deal is that if the people of Forest Hill allows flats to be built there then the Council will provide the pool. If you don't then they might reconsider.
I understand the opposition to bland modern builds but the listing of Louise House won't improve architectural standards, only crystallize a stretch of road and make any plans for a quality modern building even more awkward to achieve as they will have to work around it.
It would have been great if the Council had looked after Forest Hill Pools but what there is now is a crumbling ghost of a pool that would take a lot of money to bring up to a good standard and frankly, in terms of usability cannot compete with a modern facility, even if it is architecturally bland.
Forest Hill Pools is a period building of historic value but it isn't particularly pretty like some other period pools in London and if you weigh its value against that of the improvement in quality of life that a working pool can bring then you may think that the risk of delaying for who knows how many years the return of a pool to Forest Hill is not worth the potential gain.
I'm not saying this lightly because I'm all in favour of retaining and maintaining existing facilities, it comes out cheaper than let things rot to then demolish and rebuild but looking at this specific situation I think that listing Louise House to use it as a "pawn" as Rob rightly said, is not in the interest of swimming.
I'm also in favour of conservation of historic buildings but this is a straightforward case of competing priorities and I think that swimming and active recreation is being damaged for what is mostly an esthetic reason that as such is quite subjective.
I think that the letter that the swimming club wrote clearly explains what the modern needs for a quality structure are:
http://foresthillsociety.blogspot.com/20...rites.html
I don't think that that can be achieved by retaining the facade and Louise House, just becasue there wouldn't be a political will to do so.
If they can't build on Louise House's site they'll let it crumble, there's no duty on them to do anything about it. Same as they did for Forest Hill Pools.
The Council has proposed a bargain, they get to build houses and the people of Forest Hill gets a new pool.
I had signed the petition for a design before demolition but I didn't sign and I won't sign that for the retention of the facade and I'm really concerned about the new listed status of Louise House.
With apologies to those on the conservation side of the argument I have to say that if Roz starts a petition to delist it I'll be among the first to sign it.