Lod Formani's excellent argument against the city bid (Argus, October 17) spoke up for the Brighton born and bred and drew attention to the influence London has on the local economy. It also begs the question what actually is a city?

Brighton is one of life's pit stops, here to be used by tourists, students, day trippers and conference goers passing through. Increasingly, it is used by commuters sleeping and weekending here and contributing nothing to daily life (or shop takings). All these are an uninvolved population.

Hove, at least, used to attract permanent inward migration from London and elsewhere, as people sought a slower pace of life. It now appears to many that since annexation by Brighton, the introduction of floodlit cricket and rugby and The Drive being turned into a ring road roaring with heavy traffic, this has been actively discouraged.

Surely anywhere calling itself a city must have permanence at its core and enlivening fluff and movement at the periphery. Brighton and Hove are increasingly all fluff and movement. Hardly city material, is it?

-Valerie Paynter, BASH, Brighton (and Still Hove) against City Bid