James Greed is not alone in his confusion about his address (Letters, December 21).

About half the Christmas cards I received showed my address as Brighton, East Sussex, or Brighton, West Sussex. Both are incorrect.

A county name has never been necessary for a Brighton address because it is a main postal centre. After all, you would not send letters to Birmingham, Warwickshire, or Bristol, Gloucestershire.

In fact, these days, county names in addresses have become redundant as sorting is done by the postcode. This alone (apart from the house number) is sufficient to ensure the correct delivery of your post.

In 1974, under local government reorganisation, Brighton lost its independence as a county borough (one-tier county) and was forced to become part of East Sussex, ruled from Lewes.

Brightonians bitterly resented this. However, under further reorganisation on April 1, 1997, Brighton regained its independence when a new county called Brighton and Hove was created.

This independence was extended to Hove (including Portslade, which became part of Hove Borough in 1974) for the first time.

The geographical county of Sussex now contains three counties, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex. Observant travellers will notice the boundary signs for East Sussex have been moved back to Falmer and Saltdean to mark the reduced size of that county.

-Peter E H Bailey, Beaconsfield Villas, Brighton