Robin,
I do not wish to put any figures in the public domain yet about potential cross-subsidies from live/work units on Willow Way as I am in the first stages of submitting a planning application for such a development. This is only part of the way to close the funding gap, the other main way being the fact that building costs have fallen substantially over the last year and ?7.5m cash in hand goes a lot further than it did when Lewisham last offered a tender for a large building project.

But with housing on the Dartmouth Road site the council are willing to wait for better market conditions before building housing on the site to cross subsidise the Willow Way pool. Unfortunately the council have not fully explored the live/work options for the site, and since such a development would be more commercially viable than the pools, and would create more jobs, it is contrary to their own policy EMP3.

There are still some big questions over the funding of Willow Way which the council are pretending do not exist. The funding gap in the February feasibility study is closed by building 60 flats on Dartmouth Road all for market housing. In reality at least 35%-50% (or possibly 100%) of this development is likely to be social housing, which would reduce the cross-subsidy.

What is surprising is the absence of detail in the consultation form. It does not say how many houses will be build on the existing pools site to fund the pool in Willow Way, nor does it provide details of the finances, to see these you need to read the report to major and cabinet from February.

I can understand why most people completing this consultation will vote for option 2, but you should make it clear in your comments which you believe is the best location for swimming, not just which delivers swimming fastest. That way if I am able to prove that Dartmouth Road is an economically viable solution the council will be able to build a pool in the best position, rather than just make sure they start building before the next election.