If any company invested more than £1 million in the commercial infrastructure of Seaford, history has proved local politicians and MPs would soon climb on to the bandwagon and claim credit.

Not so when that company is Railtrack or South Central trains.

Over the years, the rail service to Seaford has been under various threats of closure.

However, when the rail companies invest in new signalling and electrical supply and tidy up the place, our political fossils crawl out from the woodwork.

They complain of short-term inconvenience in using a replacement bus service and have started to whine about saving a signal box that has clearly been rotting away for years.

It is time for the people of Seaford and their representatives to take some responsibility for a town that is fast declining in commercial terms and avoid petty criticism of investment and initiative by others.

I recently attempted to find reasonable local office-space for my company and found commercial property in the town to be of poor standard and in short supply.

Many offices carry outline planning permission for conversion into flats, which will further compromise the commercial base of the town.

Ironically, the most positive support I received in finding premises came from South Central trains and Railtrack, with the possibility of taking empty space at the station.

The police have virtually deserted the place, leisure and sports facilities are third rate and the parking charge system anachronistic. The town council has failed to manage its flagship CCTV project effectively, risking loss of government funding.

Initiatives are regularly stifled (remember the proposed cycle route, for example?).

The sight of Bishops Lodge Motel, rotting away, seems to summarise the town's approach to commercial life - will that, too, be proposed for listing when the bulldozers finally roll in?

Politicians, national and local, should take a comprehensive look at the town's commercial infrastructure, without which we will be just a dormitory for both Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne.

Stop reacting each time a dinosaur taps you on the shoulder in the Constitutional Club and start challenging us to take responsibility for the wider good of the town by offering compromise and support - even to Railtrack.

-Rob Sims, Fairways Close, Seaford