Brighton University director Sir David Watson outlines why the University has rejected Village Way North and Village Way South as sites for the Albion's proposed stadium.

In advance of the full council debate on the local plan scheduled for July 26, I feel it would be helpful to set out the main facts about the University of Brighton's position on the proposed stadium at Falmer.

The University has been an enthusiastic and constructive advocate of a community stadium for the new city of Brighton and Hove, not least to provide a new home for Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club.

We work closely with the professional teams in the city, with local schools, and with regional and local sports bodies, all of whom deserve such a facility.

We would also wish to make significant use ourselves of such an important resource for the community.

The university contributed openly to the sequential analysis that identified the site at Falmer partly on university land and partly on land owned by the city council as the council's preferred option.

The university land in question covers approximately 5.3 acres and contains approximately 4,500 square metres of academic buildings, all of which are very intensively used.

The university's development plan for its Falmer campus aims to replace these buildings by 2010. Until then, they are a vital part of the university's accommodation, without which it could not meet its teaching obligations.

Resources have not yet been identified to fund this phase of the development.

In partnership with others, and under the chairmanship of council officers, we have tried extremely hard to make this option viable.

As the deadline approached for the submission of the club's planning application at the end of June, there were three sets of unresolved issues.

First, on the legal arrangements, agreement had been reached in principle that the university would lease its land to the council so the latter could parcel it up with its own land and lease it to the company to be formed to develop the stadium.

This lease would have been for a peppercorn rent (i.e. free, after making a contribution to university replacement costs).

The purpose of the structure would be to enable the university, as landlord, to achieve protections in respect of such matters as the physical and operational impact on our campus, the naming of the stadium, its completion and appropriate use thereafter, as well as control over ancillary developments.

In other words, it would have secured the project as a community facility and not just a commercial enterprise subject to the same kind of risks the Albion has experienced in the recent past. The parties were continuing to negotiate on all of these matters.

Secondly, the university remained concerned about aspects of the design proposals for the stadium and for the supporting infrastructure.

The building as proposed overshadowed the campus in an unacceptable way, although our professional advisors suggested that it could be lowered further.

Our campus needs to operate both for students and staff, as well as for the residents and other occupants of the site, including the Brighton Health and Racquet Club, during weekends and evenings.

The plans for moving fans to and from public transport and car parks in order to cause minimum disruption had not been finally agreed.

Most seriously, the plans included no provision for widening or developing the very narrow entrance to both the campus and the stadium along Village Way.

Again, all parties were working hard to try to resolve these matters.

Then came the bombshell.