In response to the article on Shoreham Power Station (The Argus, June 2), I am particularly concerned with the misleading and sensationalist approach taken in the piece.

Shoreham has operated, and will continue to do so, well within any Government and EU safety and emission standards.

The station has an enviable record on environmental performance, having one of the best records across all aspects of power production and, as such, it is part of the solution to the UK's environmental targets.

Shoreham is a large power station and, as your article states, produces enough electricity to supply about 500,000 homes, which explains our published levels of carbon dioxide.

It competes head-on with coal-fired generation and thus, from an environmental perspective, Shoreham has an important role in lowering the UK's CO2 emissions.

Putting things in perspective, Shoreham is one of the most efficient power plants in the world, benefiting from modern combinedcycle gas turbine technology, and emits only 40 per cent of the CO2 emitted from an equivalent coalfired or oil-fired plant.

Expressed another way, if Shoreham's output last year had been generated from Fawley Power Station in Hampshire, more than double Shoreham's CO2 output would have been emitted.

Having been warmly welcomed and part of the community for the past seven years, the staff at Shoreham Power Station, many of them local residents themselves, are committed to ensuring the station performs to the highest levels at all times.

-Hugh Finlay, station manager, Shoreham Power Station