My issue with the i360 viewing tower proposed for Brighton seafront, and to which Brighton and Hove City Council plans to loan £36 million, is that its benefits are being exaggerated while the risks are being downplayed.

However, the risks are substantial for council taxpayers if the project is not profitable; we will be left with the debt and the responsibility for maintaining and running the whole thing, including the visitor areas at the base.

Last year I was “discussing” this on Twitter with Green councillors and, when I did the maths on visitor numbers, they stopped talking.

Their estimate of 800,000 visitors per year is not even practically possible given the size of the viewing platform and the length of each ride: it would have to be full 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to get anywhere near that. So to base financial projections on impossible viewing numbers is dangerous.

Whenever the developers and council are spinning a project, they always give the most optimistic numbers but they are never verified empirically later.

Personally, I would like to see the i360 built but only if it is financially viable. If it were financially viable, private enterprise would be happy to fund it.

Rob Kent, Eaton Gardens, Hove

In supporting the i360, council leader Jason Kitcat argues that his party is “committed to the regeneration of the seafront”.

Could one of your readers point me to the stretch of the seafront that needs regenerating? Perhaps Mr Kitcat would care to visit Clacton on Sea.

James Lancaster, Warwick Road, Worthing