I was horrified but not surprised at the content of the article "Under the hammer"

(The Argus, May 9). In the article, four of the nine sites earmarked for possible disposal by Brighton and Hove City Council's Tory administration are in Portslade or nearby Adur.

A few months ago at the policy and resources committee I reported that I had heard rumours about the possible disposal of all or part of the Portslade Town Hall complex.

I was led to believe that no such plans existed. We now learn that the car park and offices are under threat.

City Direct for the western area is based at Portslade council offices. This provides a host of services to local residents and its use as a payment office for rents and council tax is more important now that the Hove Town Hall cash office is closed.

Coming so soon after the threat to close Foredown Tower, another building on the list, this supports what many residents tell me, namely that Portslade is the poor relation within the city.

I call on the soon-to-be-leader, Councillor Mary Mears to make a statement removing this threat to Portslade Town Hall offices and car park by deleting the site from the list of possible disposals.

The council's wish to unload New England House raises important questions about the provision of workspaces for Brighton and Hove's flourishing creative industries.

Almost 16,000 people work in the city's creative industries, producing everything from woodcuts to websites which accounts for nearly 11% of all jobs and 20% of all companies.

One of the largest challenges facing the sector, which is growing by about 4% a year and is vital to the future prosperity of the city, is finding affordable workspaces.

Therefore, the news that the council is open to offers for New England House is worrying at a time when St James Investments is circling the London Road area snapping up land and buildings to make way for a Tesco store.

New England House is home to 94 businesses, most of them in the creative sector and many of them in incubation. More than 100 other businesses are on a waiting list for space. The building does need replacing: about 25% of its 100,000 square feet are empty because of disrepair, but there is absolutely no guarantee that St James Investments or Tesco would provide affordable space for small companies on anything like this scale in central Brighton where it is needed.

The possible London Road development offers St James a chance to prove the good intentions they express at every opportunity. As I understand it they want to respect the wishes of the local community. Does this mean they would regenerate the area without a Tesco store, if that idea proved unpopular?

Does it also mean, given the opportunity, they would replace New England House with a matching amount of affordable space for the creative industries?