I could not believe what I read in "Shops fight massive rise in council rent" (Argus, April 17).

Is Adur District Council so short-sighted it does not realise what a 60 per cent rent increase, back-dated or not, would do to traders in Southwick Square?

I have no idea what the rents are in that area, but if you take an annual rent of £5,000, this means an increase of £3,000, making the rent £8,000 a year.

This is an increase of £60 a week, which would require an extra turnover of £200, depending on the products the traders are selling.

How does the council feel the traders are going to achieve this? What was the point of freezing rents for five years and then doing this to them?

-Jackie McIntosh, Finches Close, South Lancing