We hope the councillors considering the re-development of the King Alfred site have not forgotten that Brighton and Hove City Council's function is to act in our best interests. The council is not the landowner. We, the residents, are.

It is folly to think a development of this kind would be in keeping with the character of Hove. The nearby roads are a conservation area where you can't even change the style of a window and yet serious consideration has been given to an enormous, ultra-modern development.

We understand the council,

following Government guidelines, will allow far fewer parking spaces than there are residents of the proposed site, leaving hundreds of cars without a space.

It would seem, with such a high demand for parking, there will be little chance of visitors to the sports centre being able to park.

It would also seem that with thousands of residents living above the sports facilities, non-residents could be squeezed out.

We can see no advantages of this scheme to citizens and many environmental problems in years to come, particularly for those who live locally.

It is scandalous a city this size has so few leisure facilities. As our children were growing up, we had to visit either the Spectrum Centre in Guildford or the Sovereign Centre in Eastbourne if they wanted to ice-skate or swim in a decent pool.

We have seen leisure facilities disappear but the promised replacements not materialise.

Expenditure always seems to be on providing facilities for conference delegates and holidaymakers, forgetting residents.

The scheme under consideration offers nothing positive to residents - only the developer.

-Anthony and Marilyn Jones, Hove