Whether or not you support Albion's stadium bid at Falmer, there is one section of Charles Hoile's bizarre and offensive Local Plan report that should be condemned by every mouth in Sussex and beyond.

He stated glibly that the plans couldn't be in the "national interest" - whatever that is - because the Albion is a "provincial" club.

You don't have to be a football fan to find this a patronising comment.

What it suggests is that the regions are not to be taken as seriously as the major cities. In other words, our opinions are worth less just because we don't live in London or another massive, soulless conurbation.

Hoile has casually insulted our region, as well as every other non-urban community, and if his views are allowed to hold sway, it will mean the end of all progressive building work in the "provinces", as none of it could possibly be in the national interest.

It's hard to see how Hoile can have acquired such a bias during the inquiry - what can we have done to merit such contempt?

So we can conclude that this is a long-held view, which he took into the inquiry with him and which must have coloured his every judgement and remark. Brighton and Hove, and Sussex as a whole, deserves a lot better than that.

The report shows how little he knows about Brighton and Hove and that he hasn't made much effort to get to know the city better.

Is he suited to the task or has he been promoted beyond his abilities?

Wherever you live - except obviously the big cities which he loves so much - you wouldn't want him presiding over a public inquiry in your area, would you?

-Jason Goodchild, Brighton