Trevor Pateman says the income derived from parking and parking fines in Brighton's city centre will be determining a park-and-ride is not built to the north of Brighton (Letters, February 24).

Although it is probably a consideration in Brighton and Hove City Council's calculations, one has to look at the motivation behind a park-and-ride scheme.

Firstly, park-and-ride aims to bring new shoppers into Brighton. As city-centre NCP car parks are not going to be shut down, this means park-and-ride buses will be added to the normal traffic.

Academic research shows park-and-ride schemes increase congestion, not only in the city they supposedly protect but in the roads servicing the car parks as well.

Secondly, behind all this lies a proposed rebuilding of the conference centre and redevelopment of land immediately to the north, as far as Churchill Square.

This proposed rebuilding would allow developers to create prime-location flats and shops.

Obviously, potential profits from this are immense. Rather than use some of this prime real estate for parking spaces, planners would happliy tarmac over Braypool or Patcham Court Farm, especially at taxpayers' expense.

So, sadly, it could happen. We could lose the RSPCA, Braypool playing fields, the ban on building north of the A27 and, as a bonus, get a potential gridlock on the A23/A27 roundabouts.

Rather than concentrating on schemes to attempt to steal shopping trade away from Worthing, Shoreham and Crawley, our councillors should be standing up for the people of Brighton and making the town better for us, not just for a handful of businesses around Churchill Square.

-RP Clark, Patcham, Brighton