I was very interested and encouraged to see the piece on the visit of the Chartered Institute of Housing to Scandinavia (September 19).

I entirely agree with the observations made by Councillor Jack Hazelgrove. We should be doing a lot better in Brighton and Hove.

Scandinavia is clearly in the vanguard, although one does not have to go that far to find examples Brighton and Hove could emulate. For example, there is the Peabody Trust energy-neutral development BedZED.

There are major development sites in Brighton and Hove which could have had such treatment - the station site being an obvious one.

Since appointed, I have been pushing for all new developments to be seen as an opportunity for innovations in alternative energy, water recycling and so on to produce really sustainable developments.

I do not see why, for example, the eventual development at the Preston Barracks site should not be our own BedZED so Brighton and Hove would be the place people come to "see how it's done".

We could then make a valid claim to be a "sustainable city".

I look forward to Coun Hazelgrove's report to the commission.

-Coun Joyce Edmond-Smith, Brighton and Hove City Council