Referring to Telscombe Town Council's position on Southern Water's offer of £115,000 for a strip of Telscombe Tye land for the Portobello sewage development, Mr G. Summerfield, chairman of East Saltdean Residents' Association, says the possibility the council may want to finance its new civic offices from the sale is premature (Argus, July 28).

He adds any suggestion the new civic centre would benefit from any sale is similarly premature.

I would refer him to the April 1998 edition of his own council's newsletter, the Telscombe Town Crier, distributed to every household in Telscombe, which stated: "Any money for the land needed by Southern Water will, under the terms of compulsory purchase, be very little indeed.

"Your councillors must balance this against the possibility of obtaining a significant sums of money (beyond the actual value of the land) in payment and an additional payment which could be put towards the provision of the new council building, which it is hoped will benefit all residents. In turn, this will reduce the amount of money needed from residents via their rates."

These are very real considerations, which we cannot ignore. Perhaps Mr Summerfield would like to reconsider his comments in the light of this irrefutable evidence?

-Mrs Liz Kempshall, Withyham Avenue, Saltdean