Personally I think all that could be done by the Council/Mayor was done. Granted, there are always 'issues' that affect decision making and the process is never smooth. Some will also see the processes behind such decisions as lengthy, pointless, and resource consuming and in many cases they are/were are such criticisms are justified. And the debate as to what precisely constitutes Forest Hill v Sydenham will probably raise its head again in other matters.

I think today's hostile economic climate has made a lot of public spending decisions very difficult, and again, personally, if the outcome was Willow Way I think people would still have used those pools and got on with life. However we are here now, the community has got the result it wanted, and as I see it, its still unbelievable that this has happened in current circumstances but no doubt the story isn't over yet and there are still many hurdles to surmount.

Lets hope that the next stages of planning and procurement run smoothly, that the Council continue to engage with the community, but generally operate a transparent clearly thought out process from now until the works get under way. ' Engagement' would probably mean regular press releases on the process as the media is not the most reliable source for reporting facts. I suspect that many people are still not entirely sure what sort of facilities we are getting(or like me have forgotten what was precisely on the table) so hope that community engagement will continue in this discussion but that overall, commonsense and good project management will prevail. What we need next is a clear programme for delivery of the pools, and a facility that works, is sustainable, and is well managed and which focusses on enabling swimming rather than be diluted than this and that facility.

So if that really is you posting Steve, then I think the 'community' ought to be thanking you for the decision not berating you for the twists and turns that this process has taken over the years along with associated mistakes. This will not get us anywhere.