How typical the spokesman for Clifford Dann estate agents should flippantly say "If you don't use it, lose it" when asked his opinion on the conversion of the Sandrock Inn at Ditchling into housing (The Argus, February 25).

He would, wouldn't he? Clifford Dann is the agent for the developers and no doubt will make a tidy sum from the deal.

I would expect nothing more, or less, from a business that earns its living from the inflation of property prices. Lewes District Council's planning department, however, has no such excuse. Planning officers may not realise it, or may not wish to, but they play an important role as guardians of communities, not just of buildings. In my opinion, they have a duty to protect the diversity of rural villages in order that the villages continue to have a soul.

The demise of public places (or houses) does, indeed, damage villages, as Nikki Chapman, from the Ditchling Society, said in the article. In the almost four years I have lived in Kingston, we have lost a post office and the associated potential for a shop, and a library service, which is once again down to Lewes District Council.

I understand we will shortly be losing the vet, another disastrous planning decision.

Communities thrive only if there are places within them for the community to interact and I believe with all my heart that councillors should take a look at the whole picture when making vital community decisions such as the closure of a pub. If they do not, they are failing in their job.

-Sandy Hooke, St Pancras Green, Kingston