BRIGHTON and Hove has much to love about it but like its many seaside contemporaries it was never designed for the motorcar.

That considered, it’s done pretty well to cope. But rather than draconian measures like sky-high parking charges and 20mph zones, what about park and ride? People will still visit Brighton by car so let’s accept it and give visitors and shoppers a stress-free experience.

Why on earth did we get rid of the trolleybus? Tramways might be nostalgic but require major infrastructure, while the humble and green trolleybus only needs an overhead supply.

The routes could easily span the city and go out as far as Portslade and Rottingdean.

We should complete and extend the undercliff walk to Newhaven. We could even build a light railway linking Newhaven, Peacehaven, Saltdean and Ovingdean. A continuous service like the Docklands Light Railway with driverless trains could banish the misery of queues all along the A259.

Magnus Volk had it right and his seaside electric railway still runs – though the less said of his ‘Daddy Longlegs’ the better.

Shoreham to the West is developing into a rather bijou area with its luvvies, while the beachfront houses of Portslade and Fishersgate are redolent of their harbourside origins.

It’s more complicated in the east, with the sad loss of St Aubyns School being felt in Rottingdean, and developers eyeing the playing fields.

In Saltdean, a posher version of Peacehaven, perhaps the restoration of the fantastic art deco lido and modernist buildings could inspire some sort of centre for 1920s and 1930s design?

Peacehaven, Charles Neville’s folly by the seaside, could have so much going for it but haphazard development has been going on since before the Great War.

There was never enough money to complete the Garden City by The Sea and post-war, Peacehaven’s wealthier neighbours used it to populate undesirable citizens in poor housing. The ill-conceived Meridian Centre needs a total rethink and its attempt to fabricate a town centre under one roof is a draughty miserable place. People may live happily in Peacehaven but they don’t get the environment or services enjoyed by their neighbours.

What can be said about the once-bustling industrial port of Newhaven? The poor depleted town’s manufacturing industry has had its heart ripped out, though it retains vestiges of its once proud past.

Through-traffic was effectively strangled by a one-way system and a rather pathetic 1970s shopping centre.

Many fine old buildings were demolished, but moves are at last afoot to regenerate old and characterful dockside buildings. Thank goodness for the cross-Channel ferry which still maintains a link with Dieppe – though sadly it is the French, not the English, who are prepared to put their money where their mouth is.

Considering the wealth of history, architecture and traditions in and around the south coast, there’s much we could do without destroying its character – all we need is cash.