As a resident of Lancing, overlooking Beach Green, I was pleased to hear a Thai restaurant with a bar and conference room is to be built on the present site of the old Mermaid Cafe.

The cafe has been an eyesore for some time now and to think someone is enterprising enough to spend £500,000 to revamp this area and rejuvenate this part of Lancing is an exciting prospect.

I applaud George Lin and the owners of the future complex and wish them all the best in their venture. Having spoken to other residents of Lancing, I am sure I am not alone in these sentiments.

Alas, I have to put a slight damper on this enthusiasm, as I am not sure if Mr Lin and the owners of the would-be complex are aware Lancing Parish Council is proposing to have Beach Green dug up in

order to remove as many as 3,000 anti-tank blocks from the Second World War over three summers, beginning this year.

To quote one of Lancing Parish Council's own reports: "The areas of immediate concern are those immediately in front of the Mermaid Cafe, to the front of the playground area and to the immediate east of the footpath from the car park to the coastal path".

The same newsletter continued: "The work would leave the whole of Beach Green area 16-20ft below its current level. It would then need to be filled in, top-soiled and grassed."

An alternative course of action has been suggested by the Beach Green Action Group, under the auspices of the Lancing Residents' Association, with the acceptance in principle of the Environment Agency. This would be to leave the blocks where they are, as they consolidate the ground, then restore and bring the level of the ground back to its original state and maintain it using the money generated by the various events held yearly on the Green - circuses, fun-fairs, markets, car-boot sales, antiques markets and so on.

This could surely seriously impede the plans for the new proposed Thai restaurant complex.

-Del Doune, Lancing