"Green spaces are worth more than development" - an excellent conservation letter from Valerie Paynter, the Save Hove campaigner (Letters, April 24).

It encouraged me to raise the point that the Victorians and Edwardians started to build on the central section of Hove's promenade seaward of the low-lying coast road. If they hadn't, Hove Lawns would have extended to Hove Lagoon, and the Victorians would have left future generations one of the most beautiful expansive open seafronts in the world.

If Frank Gehry's iconic masterpiece had been proposed to be built north of the coast road on and along the original seafront in line with the Brighton Conference Centre, the new architecture could have been admired by millions strolling along the prom.

Sadly this will not be the case with the present proposed promenade site which can be properly admired only by boat or from Worthing beach.

  • John Stanaway, Lorna Road, Hove