Councillor Philip Peake offers his view
Now that the official consultation on the future of Forest Hill pools has finally begun, we can see what the Council Executive have come up with for us. Back in the Spring, the Mayor, Steve Bullock, said at numerous forums and in the press that "he has a completely open mind" and would be "asking the public to give us a broad view on what they want on that site". I therefore hoped that the consultation process really would be broad and open. This, it would seem, was slightly naive of me. The Council seem to have spent the first part of this consultation process asking 'independent consultants' Capita (famous to readers of Private Eye) what they want to do with the pools, while refusing to talk to local people. This would appear to have lasted no less than 24 weeks, leaving only four weeks for the official consultation period rather than the promised June-September.
And what are the options suggested by Capita? They are distinctly uninspiring - a refurbishment which doesn't solve the layout problems that the existing building has, or a new build which would involve the demolition of one of the most important parts of London's municipal built heritage and a reduction in facilities.
We are told that the options are limited by cost. Indeed, I wouldn't be a very responsible councillor if I suggested that a blank cheque should be written by the Borough to cover whatever we wanted for our Pools. But has enough work really been done to investigate alternative sources of funding? We are told that it would be impossible to find such funding in the timescale available, but where does this timescale come from? Perhaps it is related to the mess in which Mr Bullock has got the rest of Lewisham's Leisure Centres. A manifesto promise to build and open Downham Leisure Centre in 2004 has transmogrified into building just starting and a projected earliest opening date of February 2007. Not to mention the demolition of Ladywell Leisure Centre (leaving Lewisham town centre without a pool for at least three years) to build a school in the wrong place.
It looks to me like a panicky attempt to keep the window of debate on Forest Hill Pools as closed as possible: to get something - anything - decided in as short a period as possible and avoid having to talk about a third pool. Which is a great shame, since there is a huge opportunity being missed to improve our town, and the quality of life for all of us.
Having said all this, I wouldn't deny that it's good news that the future of the Pools now seems secure. The most important thing that you can do is to return the official consultation form. However flawed the system, please let them know that our amenity is important to us.
Philip Peake Councillor, Horniman Ward
We will have more on the Pools debate in a forthcoming newsletter.