I was flabbergasted to read some of Green council leader Phelim Mac Cafferty's claims in The Argus on April 1.

He claims the Greens "support tourism and key tourist destinations in the city".

Why not all tourist destinations?

But anyway, this simply isn't true.

The Greens are removing hundreds of visitor parking spaces, they have ramped up parking costs with no concessions for evening parking and they are now removing parking meters altogether to force everyone to download and pay extra to use parking apps.

As if all this was not bad enough, they plan to bring in ULEZ (ultra low emission zone) charges and a tourism tax.

Councillor Mac Cafferty claims to be restoring the city's heritage but conveniently forgets to mention that if he hadn't given permission for a Christmas market to go up in the Old Steine including a big wheel without a structural survey, the Victoria Fountain would, in my view, not have been damaged, leading to a costly restoration. As for Madeira Terraces, he has so far done sweet Fanny Adams following a now ten-year closure, apart from keep putting it off, wasting precious money on too many consultants and a bonkers neon installation which has nothing to do with anything.

The seafront lanterns are still down two years after their promised refurbishment so where is Councillor Mac Cafferty's commitment to those?

As for the claim of a "fairer Brighton and Hove", his scheme to penalise good landlords who do as they are told rather than prosecuting the bad landlords will result in more good landlords leaving the market and more housing shortages in the city.

ULEZ charges, like the council's own resident parking permits, are biased against certain types of usually older vehicles. This punishes those who can least afford it, whether sole traders or single mothers. All owners of legal

vehicles which have passed their yearly emissions tests. None of this is building a "fairer city" but an unfairer city which disproportionately impacts on the working class and the squeezed middle.

My husband and I know so many sole traders who are moving out of Brighton because they can't afford to live here

any more. As our plumber said: "Why should a sole trader have to pay £1,400 for a parking permit - with restrictions - compared with a resident paying £120 with no hours restrictions who can work from home with a laptop?" It is taxing individuals for doing a different type of work which requires them to travel and carry tools around.

The Green agenda is a poverty agenda for many which will doom Brighton and Hove until only the rich can afford to live or retire here. The rich who will carry on over-consuming and having second homes here, no matter what sacrifices ordinary residents are squeezed into making.

Serena Evans

West Hove