While I agree with Green Party convenor, Councillor Keith Taylor, that Karis should now withdraw its re-submitted application to develop The King Alfred, it would be unethical for this "preferred developer" to be asked to provide new designs yet again.

Karis, Frank Gehry, Piers Gough and Brighton and Hove City Council all knew after the January 20 meeting in the offices of English Heritage in London, with CABE present, that the eight perimeter blocks were not acceptable and needed to be redesigned.

It was the developer's choice to re-submit the planning application without design changes. They must have known English Heritage and CABE would object.

On June 6 last year, at a Policy and Resources Comittee meeting, Coun Taylor voted against letting Karis raise the number of flats for King Alfred from 590 to 754, while his colleague, Councillor Bill Randall, supported the increase.

On September 12 last year, at another Policy and Resources Committee meeting, Coun Taylor said he was worried about making a decision he would regret for the rest of his life. I'm glad he has spoken out now but he is still prevaricating.

This is not the moment either for the council to dig an even bigger hole for itself by spending any more taxpayers' money on a brief that even the Inland Revenue's Valuation Office has called into question as being workable.

It is time to step back and reflect.

Should we be looking again at the other three competition finalists who lost out to Karis or even the whole range of competition submissions from that time?

The right of Local Plan policy SR24 (formerly SR26) to even exist is scheduled to be challenged in The High Court in London on June 16. If this policy is struck out, where does that leave any of them?

There is, too, the question of how deeply obligated the council is to Karis. Is there anything on paper to prevent a parting of the ways?

The many hundred of thousands of pounds the council has already squandered would have refurbished the King Alfred Sports Centre to a very high standard.

This nonsense cannot go on.

-Valerie Paynter, saveHOVE, POB 521, Hove