It is nice to know JM Hawkins of Shoreham (Letters, June 19) has paid no attention to the public inquiries into the proposed stadium at Falmer nor to the basic geography of the site.

It beggars belief he can suggest building the stadium at Toads Hole Valley, which is entirely within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), instead of the Falmer site, which isn't.

To suggest one AONB is more important than another and that planning policy should apply to only one of them is ludicrous.

Also, in the unlikely event the National Park does eventually come to fruition, the level of protection it offers is no greater than for an AONB, so the Inspector's recommendation that Falmer is the only viable site in Brighton and Hove for a stadium would still stand.

When JM Hawkins says of Toads Hole Valley, "It can hardly be described as being of outstanding natural beauty nowadays", he just makes me laugh, as it is even more true of Falmer, which is also south of the A27.

How I delight at the way the A27 sweeps majestically through the middle of the nearby village and marvel at the architectural delights of the University of Brighton buildings, the picturesque muddy field, and Southern Water's beautiful premises.

Has he been there recently? Finally, I'd like to ask: Would Mr Hawkins be so supportive of Lewes District Council (LDC) if he was one of their taxpayers?

After all, they didn't actually need to go to the High Court to challenge the Deputy Prime Minister's decision.

Permission could have been quashed already and the process of drawing up a new decision from scratch begun, bringing with it the opportunity to consider the evidence from the planning inquiries and new evidence as well.

I'd be pretty annoyed myself at this waste of money, particularly if the decision to go ahead with the challenge was made behind closed doors and LDC hadn't bothered to canvas the electorates' opinion on the subject.

-Andrew Palmer, Guildford