Ian Hills is misinformed about Green Party policy on the South Downs (Letters, March 30).

Greens place a premium on protecting the Downs from all development.

We have argued that travellers should be provided with a site with adequate facilities and managed under environmental principles at Horsdean.

This is quite different from advocating mass building of sites for travellers on the Downs, which goes against everything Greens stand for.

Greens have always argued it is the Tory-initiated and Labour-supported 1994 Criminal Justice Act which causes problems for Brighton and Hove.

The act enables local councils across the country to opt out of providing adequate sites for travellers in their areas, making our city a more attractive destination as travellers are forced on the road from elsewhere.

In the event of a power-sharing council after next year's elections, Greens will work with what seems, increasingly, to be a cosy coalition of Labour and Lib-Dems.

We will try to restrain them from the short-termist "pick 'n' mix" planning policies to which they are both prone.

Both parties are in favour of developing the Downs north of the A27 by-pass, despite paying lip service to a National Park.

While we are open to pragmatic solutions, Greens remain the only party to oppose development on the Downs in principle.

-Liz Wakefield, Green Party Candidate, Patcham ward by-election