The chairman of the Place to Be executive gives updates on the bid for city status

It's the summer so the streets are full, particularly down here.

And I used to curse Ralph McTell for that song The Streets Of London because when you are trying to curse your way along the overcrowded streets of London there is always some damn cheery busker playing Grade One guitar singing romantically about how lovely the streets of London are.

And they're not.

But while I hate the song, I actually like buskers. They are singing for their supper rather than just holding their hand out.

And when they are wonderful, like Stomp were in their previous incarnation of Pookiesnackenburger, who even managed to make Saturdays at the dreadful old Churchill Square a good experience, they are a tremendous addition to our streets.

And, I know not everyone agrees with me about this, interesting graffiti and tidy flyposting, if it does not damage the place and is done with flair, can brighten up a dull wall of a derelict building, in the absence of the owners (who probably are some faceless corporation) bothering to do anything about their failing property.

Of course when people just scrawl on other people's buildings or irreversibly paste posters to my house, it goes well beyond aggravation into criminality.

We also often marvel at the skill of pavement artists, wondering why they are only drawing in chalk in the open air where their work will be washed away by the first spit of rain.

And on a Friday or Saturday night don't we love to laugh at or be kissed by what seems to have become a bit of a Brighton and Hove tradition recently, gaggles of giggly girls, one with a L-plate and the rest with silver wigs, out on a Hen Night? They are loud, utterly intrusive and undeniably good fun. But how we hate those groups of leery lads strutting arrogantly and shouting offensively at women and gays and any one else who doesn't fit into their narrow view of the world as equals.

The point I am making is that the essence of streets is that they are buzzing, exciting, noisy spaces. But we should all be able to share in them.

They should be treated with respect. And to be honest, if I was forced to chose who should be taken off the streets first, the pathetic beggar, the drunken lad shouting and urinating or the wanton litterbug chucking their fag packets and burger wrappers thoughtlessly on the floor, I'd be hard pushed.

It is a nonsense to fixate just on beggars for instance because empty buildings, drunken behaviour, litter and graffiti all contribute together to the feeling that our town is not prosperous.

Think of what has improved down and out areas in the past. What made The North Laine the South's mini-mecca of independent shopping? It was the small shops. In Churchill Square it has been a huge international developer that has cleaned up our act.

And watch over the next months as the station finally begins to emerge and the offices in Queen's Road fill up, as they are now almost all let. That area will finally start to change. The beggars will move and the first sight of the town off the train will be an optimistic one.

I'm not back off holiday and suddenly struck by a bad case of 'Simon lives in cloud cuckoo land', I'm just saying that "getting beggars off the street" is just part of the problem and only one part of the renaissance of our town. It also needs clever and original ideas because so many of the ones that have been tried haven't worked.

So what we need is to start a tough, town-wide conversation between the housing, mental health, drug and other charities, the police, the council, the traders and all of us ordinary people about how we get our streets back.

How do we say forcefully and effectively that we are not going to tolerate our common ways being taken from us by drunks and litterbugs and by begging and vandalism?

If we want to change our street culture we have to tackle all of the problems. Bringing an end to begging is high on the list, but filling empty buildings, tackling litterbugs when you see them - or stop being one if you are one - and refusing to put up with drunks and violence is also part of it.

As much of correspondence to which I returned said: 'How can we be a city if our streets are like this?' Exactly.