the planning application for The Old Market theatre in Hove (The Argus, April 9) is derision of the most cynical kind. It insults the area and the building brazenly yet calls the design “brave”. It is one thing to look at computer generated images but when sitting in City Direct with the black and white drawings of the elevations I was shaken to the core. The proposed flats for the roof, encased in reflecting glass, are vast. They seem to be half its present height again and are proposed to be plonked on top and considered invisible. The application has now been re-advertised asking for public comment.

Those who took an interest in the King Alfred saga will recall a number of amendments and re-advertisements which were hard to keep up with and which required updated new consultation responses each time. Something similar seems certain for The Old Market application. English Heritage has objected to “the form and silhouette” and the use of “stilts”, commented on the use of reflective glass and inferred that apartment lights would be overbearing. That consultation response was forwarded to LCE Architects for comment.

In my view, this mirror-glass box design is rigid, ugly, indefensible and birds will smack into it. How could The Old Market retain listed status?

The Regency architecture in Brighton and Hove and its elegant reach into the early Victorian era, as building continued westwards, is our most truly “unique selling point” and we need to protect it in order to keep trading on it.

Valerie Paynter
saveHOVE
POBox 521, Hove