I was surprised to read in The Argus recently about the level of opposition to Brighton and Hove City Council’s decision to refurbish the old Portslade police station and convert it into social housing.

Personally, I do not have strong views either way but cannot understand the resistance to this initiative for the following reasons: Firstly, the upper floor of this building is already used as domestic accommodation, so this suggestion is merely an extension of the current arrangement.

In these austere times, I do not believe it is entirely a sensible and sustainable idea to turn the building into a museum, which becomes yet another drain on the taxpayer, when it could go some way towards alleviating our severe housing shortage.

Locally, we currently have the totally underused Foredown tower, already funded by the council, which could be used for museum purposes or even, as was said some time ago, unused buildings at Portslade Station.

Perhaps it may even be an idea to return the old police station to the Brighton police, which could reoccupy an economically-sized, suitably designed building serving its purposes – surely better than the current situation of occupying Hove Town Hall.

Trevor Alford, former Conservative councillor for North Portslade, independent candidate for 2015

Further to the news about Portslade police station, my dad, John Connor (known to everyone as Jack) was a police officer in the Metropolitan Police and retired in 1939 when our family moved to Portslade.

When the war broke out in September 1939, he was called up to what was called the First War Reserve and returned to the police. He was stationed in Portslade in St Andrew’s Road.

It was a very short walk from our home in Franklin Road and he remained working there well after the war ended and, in fact, into the 1950s. I think he must have been one of the last officers working there before it closed.

I wonder, do any other readers remember him?

Ruby Shirley, Sunninghill Avenue, Hove