DOES Newhaven port need two regeneration schemes? My answer is a resounding no (The Argus, May 18).

With these new developments comes more traffic congestion. All you need is a bridge being out of action over the River Ouse at peak times and the traffic would back up to Peacehaven in one direction and Seaford in the other.

I would have thought transport minister (and MP for Lewes) Norman Baker would have sussed that out, without the help of planning experts at Lewes District Council.

Your story says the two projects were floated at a public meeting yesterday, and also that the council feels only one of these should be approved.

The thing is, within the port area, we already have a Sainsbury’s, Lidl and McDonalds, with a new KFC about to open next to Lidl. Pub-wise, one of the biggest pubs in Newhaven (The Sheffield) is now shut.

There is also now only one bank open since a NatWest branch closed recently.

Do these planners ever do their research? Will a development help? I don’t think so.

As far as the town centre is concerned, they may as well turn the lights out – it feels like a cemetery.

So why don’t these big money property whizz-kids bring their development ideas to Newhaven’s town centre?

I think I know the answer to that: there’s no money in it.

Asda is behind one of these proposals. It feels as if Asda owns most of Newhaven anyway, so why would it want to go over the river?

I don’t think either plan should get permission, but I think we all know how Newhaven is likely to end up.

Paul-John Harris, Glynde Close, Newhaven

THE regeneration of the port of Newhaven is very much overdue.

I remember taking the ferry to Dieppe 30 years ago when I was a student in the UK.

Newhaven has not changed much during the past three decades. If anything, the town has become an eyesore – terminology it doesn’t deserve.

A supermarket is a good idea, but not sufficient to attract people. What Newhaven needs is a large Marks & Spencer store similar to the one in Shoreham.

Such a store would not only attract local people; I can assure you the French, particularly around Dieppe, would definitely cross the Channel to shop there. French people are very fond of M&S – they see it as very “British”.

I believe the only M&S store in France is in Paris, on the Champs Elysées.

Furthermore, shoppers would no longer have to pay the ridiculous parking charges that Brighton and Hove City Council has been so keen to introduce.

Like many of your readers, I too want to apologise to the traders of Brighton and Hove for not having spent any money in the city for eight weeks now.

My message to the planners involved is to start negotiations with this very “British” of stores.

Chrystelle Nunan, Bannings Vale, Saltdean