Why was Brighton and Hove City Council so surprised by the number of partygoers who descended on Brighton last weekend?

The Party in the Park has used under-estimation of numbers as an excuse for not providing enough toilets, rubbish bins and stewards for crowd control for the past three years.

People living around the park have had to put up with the smell or urine and other bodily waste, rubbish just thrown into gardens and abuse if you ask people not to block road and pavement access with their cars.

So much rubbish was left in the park in 2001 that Lovers Walk was closed so the rats could be cleared.

August has the Gay Pride event in the park. This, as far as I know, has never caused a big problem in the area but what will happen if 200,000 people decide it's a nice day for an outing?

-J C Elliott, Rookery Close, Brighton