It's great news that the success of New Road is going to be extended in central Brighton (The Argus, March 17). However, we need to ensure that the rest of the city is not left out when such improvements take place.

Valerie Paynter hit the nail on the head with her comments on plans for the Sackville Trading Estate (Letters, March 4). Her concern was the development "has been conceived as a motoring destination," likely to deliver more traffic from commuters and owners of second homes than being a "pedestrian accessible shopping area".

The same can be said for the former Preston Barracks site in Lewes Road. Overall plans for this area used to include turning the A270 into an "academic corridor"

linking the universities of Brighton and Sussex and calming traffic at the gyratory. The revised plans for Preston Barracks seem likely to include a supermarket, generating even more traffic and undermining existing shops. The sign that still stands on the site refers to proposed usage including "commercial offices, managed workspaces, small business units, housing, affordable homes, leisure and community facilities, all designed to sustainable standards." Nothing about a supermarket which is hardly likely to promote "self-containment of car parking generated by the development together with the encouragement of public transport, cycling and walking".

A supermarket is also unlikely to create a "sense of place" as laid down in the Preston Barracks masterplan.

Or has that been ditched?

A detailed planning application is apparently due to be submitted in August. We need to ensure that planning policies throughout the city reflect sustainable choices and build on the progress made in areas like New Road. Once made, these decisions are set in stone - or concrete - and we will have to live with the consequences for many years, long after the officials and councillors who made the decisions have moved on.

  • Stephen Young, Brighton and Hove Living Streets, Carlisle Road, Hove