I hold no brief for the Campaign for a Better Brighton and Hove - they appear to be just a bunch of disgruntled Tories.

Having said that, the granting of city status fills me with dread.

Unlike most of the people behind the Place to Be campaign, I was actually born in Brighton and have lived in this area all my life. Hove may have only developed as a town because of Brighton but it always had its own distinct character.

Less than four years after the merger, Hove is rapidly becoming as tacky and squalid as modern Brighton and the whole conurbation between Portslade, Patcham and Saltdean will no doubt degenerate into just another sprawling metropolis.

My greatest fear is our new status will be a springboard for relaunching Brighton and Hove not just as a "city by the sea" but as a "city that never sleeps" with a 24 hours a day, seven days a week economy.

The extension of permanent shift working required to service such an economy is the very last thing we need.

All the research shows that even the hardiest and most well-adjusted shift workers suffer health problems through patterns of work which conflict with the human body's natural rhythms.

-P.D. Jackson, Byron Street, Hove