Mathew Cowell (Opinion, February 14) is both right and wrong.

Our average wage is not between £10,000 and £15,000, as he suggests, but £19,728. Since the national average is over £21,000, this still isn't anything to crow about but it is showing a rising trend.

He is of course quite right when he says average house prices are often beyond the means of the average wage earner but he is mistaken in the assumption that nothing is being done about it.

The draft Local Plan, which went out to public consultation at the end of last year, has suggested 40 per cent of new housing developments on brownfield sites should be affordable housing and strenuous efforts are being made to bring vacant space above commercial buildings back into residential use.

Good examples of developments in the town centre that might help to ease this problem are the new library site and the station goods yard site.

Of course, in the long term, raising our average wage to match house prices is the goal, which is why business sectors like new media are so important to the town.

The issue of low wages and high house prices is of pressing concern to all those involved in the city's regeneration and it is a mistake to think it is being ignored.

-Tony Mernagh, Brighton Town Centre, Business Forum