On behalf of the Kemp Town Society, I feel it necessary to take issue with Addleshaw Goddard, the solicitors acting for Brunswick (Letters, May 9).

They assert that, if planning permission were to be granted for the proposed marina development, Brighton and Hove City Council can then separately give written consent to build above the height of the cliff and thereby disregard the existing height restriction, which has been in place for more than 30 years.

Following lengthy debates in both Houses of Parliament, the wording of the Brighton Marina Act of 1968 was specifically designed to combine these deliberations with the report of the Lords select committee, which had been specially appointed to hear evidence and give advice.

Much concern had been expressed in Parliament that the creation of a marina should not, in any way, be allowed to compromise or detract from the neighbouring, Grade Ilisted Kemp Town Estate and its outstanding setting, which is numbered among the most important and historic examples of formal town planning in the country.

Parliament's intent was, therefore, that the setting of this supremely important conservation area should be preserved at all costs and protected against any encroaching development.

The Act was passed into law with that clear intention in mind and with the local authority in the position of guardians of the Act.

-Derek De Young, Kemp Town, Brighton