While I have considerable sympathy with the notion that the answer to River Park Leisure Centre is to knock it down, returning the site to its original use as part of the natural method of flood avoidance, as part of the flood plain, it is wildly impractical, particular given the parlous state of the finances of the council. 

The cost would be considerable and removing an asset from an already depleted balance sheet would be counter productive.

One benefit of the use of River Park as an arts and crafts centre, additional to those already described, would be that the Hampshire Art Collection might be removed from storage, to be displayed on a permanent basis, so that its owners, the people of Hampshire, might have an opportunity to view their inheritance. 

At the moment, councillors and staff may see it, perhaps decorate their offices with it, while the rest of us can merely wonder as to what it is that is being held, in trust, for us, by the county council. 

At one time, there was an annual showing of part of the collection, but this appears not to be in accord with the council's thinking.

John Seager Green,
St Cross Road,

St Cross,
Winchester

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