I am Brightonian by breeding and happened to be visiting when the West Pier collapsed.

I hold very little hope the rest of the pier can be restored. The only safe solution is for it to be pulled down.

This is a brilliant example of just how clueless is Brighton and Hove City Council, the authority that wanted to become a European Capital of Culture.

It has a brilliant historic monument that has literally fallen into the sea, a temporary central library in a disgusting carbuncle of an office block, where many books are available only on request because they are in storage, Citizens' Advice Bureaux shutting because of insufficient funding, private security guards at Varndean School, where the staff fear for their safety, and a football team that has been playing in the stadium where I used to have my school sports days.

But everything is all right, you see, because there are lots of trendy cafe-bars, DJs and web designers commuting to London every day who make the place "cool".

I haven't been a Brighton resident since 1999 and am this angry. What on Earth must those of you who still live there feel?

-Callum May, Newlands Road, Newcastle upon Tyne