I have looked at the three options presented at Lewisham Council's website http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDem...tHillPools

and its extremely difficult to see what the actual buildings and frontages will look like. I hope that additional elevations and more detailed information will be available at the exhibition held at the FH Library.

Option 1 only has one pool, so although the public space surrounding the leisure facilities look the best in my view, presumably this is not an option as the school children would not be able to use the facilities to learn to swim and will have to continue to be shipped off to Beckenham.

Option 2 and 3 have two pools, and both retail and housing (I guess the Council is keen on income from retail and housing, so have not included two pools in option 1, which does not have retail or housing as part of the plan).

The foot print of the leisure centre in option 1 and option 2 are very similar, so I dont see why its not possible to facilitate two pools in option 1 and keep the larger public space outside the building. But again I guess this is gentle manipulation from the Council re income from the site.

The problem with this consultation as presented on the Council's website is that the information and images are simply insufficient to give you a real sense of what any of the options will look like in real terms. The first image of every option is a bird's eye view (sort of anyway) looking towards Kirkdale, the second image is from street level but looking down towards the station, so how can you compare the two images? Also the second image focusses on the library, 1/3 of the image is of the library rather than the new development. The proposed Residential Block B from option 2 and 3, is not on the street level images, and I find it hard to believe that the quite substantional looking Residental Block B will be invisible.

There is no head-on elevation of the new facilities and the proposed residential blocks, only side-way glances obscured by the lovely library building. It seems to me that Residential Block B in option 3 is several storeys higher than the leisure centre and sticks out considerably, but from the street level images, this is not obvious and residential block B does not feature at all. Without any measurements of the buildings its impossible to tell what the difference will be.

None of the foot prints contain any measurements either.

So, I hope all of this is only meant as a summary and that people will be able to see more detailed plans, from all angles, and some measurements of heights and widths at the exhibition.

Architects impressions are notoriously biased, please note the lovely fluffy trees lining Salcolmbe House, this is architecture speak for making something look lovely and inviting, but is not actually a real feature of the development (ie these are mature trees and wont grow to such loveliness over night)

I hope as many residents as possible will comment on these proposals and that unlike the last consultation held on the subject, the Council will actually listen to what we, the residents, have to say.

Rikke