Sailing, swimming, sunning, sauna, cycling, sculpture at Deptford Basin

It has recently been said that the Great Basin on the Convoys site cannot be opened as it would be a dead space. It seems that the only dead space is in the imagination of the developer and perhaps even Lewisham's own Design Panel, advisors to the Planners. If you don't have any good ideas of your own then why not borrow successful ideas from elsewhere? For starters, there's the swimming barges in Berlin

Or the sauna and swimming club on the lake in Zurich

If all of this is possible elsewhere in Europe then its possible here in Deptford too.

How amazing to be able to spend the day by the water, on the water even, cycling up to and around water based sculptures, taking a swim or a sauna or just enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Even if its raining, won't such sculptures look even better, especially after an invigorating swim and a relaxing sauna.

So let's not settle for shopping only, so far it seems that's the idea proposed for the Olympia site. Open the Great Basin, re-instate the impressive caisson gate to the river and the bridge across the Basin mouth, install some remarkable international eye-catching sculpture, float the swimming pools and saunas on the water, and be the first to create waterborne Boris bikes.

Create a unique place for Deptford and satisfy heritage policy, health policy, arts and environmental policy in one stroke.