If Brighton and Hove City Council wishes the city to be Capital of Culture, surely we can come up with an innovative scheme for the King Alfred centre to capture the imagination and attract finance?

With immediate maintenance, the King Alfred can keep going as long as there is light at the end of the tunnel.

We need something like the Eden Project. We must think big. Let's have a competition, open to everyone, to harmonise the seafront from the Marina to Shoreham.

We should be harnessing our greatest asset, the sea, at the King Alfred, especially with its naval history.

Brighton and Hove is full of talented people, so come on everyone, put on your thinking caps.

-Deirdre Barclay, dmb.aymer@virgin.net