It is amazing to me that, on pages of print about the closure of restaurants in Brighton (The Argus, November 11), you didn't identify the main reasons for it.

Number one must be Brighton and Hove City Council's oppressive parking policy.

How many people want to drive into Brighton to face the army of zealous wardens waiting in the backstreets to pounce on them?

Second is the paralysis of the city's traffic system the council has created,

which is a maze of bus lanes, one-way streets and traffic lights.

The queues on summer Sundays into Brighton on the A23 are an advert for people to stay away.

Third is the massive rise in rates.

Local government's huge and growing army of employees and the council's insatiable need for money to fund its endless schemes and policies is slowly sinking the weaker parts of the private sector.

Obviously, there are other factors, not least the reams of red tape and employment legislation generated by central government. But the biggest culprits are sitting in the Town Hall.

Sooner or later, the damage they are wreaking on commerce in the city, with their endless meddling, will display itself in more closed-down businesses and the unemployment which will follow.

-Maurice Gale, Brighton