kford, Yes that's fine, I'm not disputing that you're entitled to your opinion - I'm just saying that blithely denigrating my home on an interactive community website didn't seem to be in the spirit of the thing. Clearly the design of the building isn't ideal but it isn't going to be knocked down and it seems a bit futile to speculate on what you would have liked them to have built in its place 40 years ago, and indeed offensive to speculate on what you would like to be built if they did knock my home down. Appreciation of design is, of course, subjective and in turn I can't say that I admire the aesthetic of the Forest Hill Sainsburys development either; I certainly won't be suggesting that it should be demolished though. If you're particularly worried about planning issues then it would be nice to think you could turn your considerable energies to constructive lobbying of Southwark Council's planning department for future developments. There is tremendous scope in this area for a fantastic campaign to - for instance - ensure the survival of our small, independent businesses and it would be thrilling to think of people writing in their hundreds if not thousands to the Council, to the papers and to their MP to try to push for a sensitive town planning strategy to be put in place for this area. But I can't see how this can be put into action if you are content to indulge in specious and insulting chat. By all means have your opinions but it's thoughtless and counterproductive to hurl them into cyberspace with little or no consideration for the feelings of others.
