We have been fighting the West Sussex County Structure Plan for many months.

We have had public meetings, a referendum, organised petitions and lodged thousands of official objections to the proposals.

Last week, I went to a County Council sub-committee meeting that discussed the structure plan.

I was delighted to hear that, far from being alone, councillors from across the county were against it.

Members from all along the coast were particularly vocal in their dissent over development without infrastructure back-up, traffic congestion and the on/off plans for the A27 among many other points.

The chairman summed up the position by expressing the councillors' total lack of confidence in the existing proposals.

The sub-committee voted that the whole plan should be referred back for public consultation.

This is a stinging rebuke to those who thought they could drive this plan through regardless of the electorate's wishes.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the matter. As a result of this meeting, the structure plan might be amended slightly.

It will then be presented to the county council cabinet for its agreement.

There can be not doubt that at this stage of the process, the cabinet will agree the plan as not to do so would be far too embarrassing.

After this, it will go to the full council for formal approval. This will be the very last chance available to reject this flawed document.

The individual councillors need the public to clearly tell them to oppose this plan.

Any council vote will probably have a "three-line whip". The councillors will need support from electors to vote against the plan.

May I ask readers to contact their county councillors to tell them of their concerns about the plan, requesting they vote against the proposals at the full council meeting next month?

Readers in East Sussex might be interested in the knock-on effects of some of the proposals - it is clear that little consideration has been given to our neighbours.

If we fail now, the whole county will be paying the cost for decades to come.

-Kelvin Pert, Crawley Down