If I was coming from the station with a pushchair, kids and heavy shopping I think I would go straight home first , not on to swimming... common sense, n'est-ce pas? Wouldn;t have the energy....

Baboonery, you speak such sense and in my mind summarise things so succinctly.

Guys, the assessments of Willow Way, distances etc just comes across as being so Hill -Centric. If you want to win the argument with the council then you need to change tack as they simply won't give in to that. Not a popular view I know but the fact it takes 15 minutes for a number of people to walk to their local swimming pool is hardly a hardship. What do you think everyone else in the UK does? If you live in Sheffield or Manchester of Glasgow do you have a pool within 6 minutes walk of your home? I think not. The fact that an additional 6 minutes travel is being promoted as a decision maker on significant local authority capital expenditure is becoming farcical. Despite the pool being in Dartmouth Road I still caught a train or a bus to Crystal Palace as the facilities were better and cleaner. (until asbestos etc) . Now we prefer Beckenham Spa over Dulwich Baths or Ladywell as the facilities are much better and the experience a whole lot nicer, albeit more expensive. Growing up in Northern Ireland where the population is a little less dense than in London and with probably lower expectations of public services I had to take two buses for an hours journey each way to my local pool.

I suspect that people will still use a pool in Willow Way if it provides decent facilities and do not see it automatically unviable for that reason. The Council must believe that they will get planning for this otherwise it will fall at the first hurdle. I doubt even they are so stupid as to pursue an option that will do so as when they decide they will be proceeding with one option to the virtual exclusion of the other - the design exercise will be extremely costly. Neither of these sites is straightforward from a feasibility point of view.