BRIGHTON and Hove City Council’s proposed gating order for Ship Street Gardens will close a major pedestrian route through the heart of our city every night from 9pm to 8am.

Locked gates at either end will also render Black Lion Lane useless, so they will no doubt try to gate that passage next. Before long the gates will no doubt conveniently not be unlocked and the passageways will gradually become private spaces.

It is claimed this will reduce antisocial behaviour. It won’t – it will merely move the activity elsewhere, while inconveniencing the majority of townspeople and visitors who use these passageways.

These twittens are important parts of the history and topography of our city and are well used both day and night. There are no alternate routes without a big detour.

The problems are overstated and the suggested solution is draconian and unnecessary. For most of us who live in the centre of town, antisocial behaviour is commonplace, yet we are expected to endure it while this expensive proposal gives the impression of action while achieving nothing.

Gating orders are not a solution, merely a surrender. We seem incapable of grasping the real problem, which is the behaviour, not the location of it.

The logical limit of this daft policy will be to gate the entire old town. The city centre belongs to all residents, not only to those who live there. Unacceptable behaviour should be dealt with by the police and the businesses who help create it.

The majority of law- abiding members of the public should not be inconvenienced by the behaviour of a small number of yobs.

Send objections before October 18 by email to simon.bannister@brighton-hove.gov.uk or write to the Director of Environment, Public Safety/Environment Improvements, Bartholomew House, Batholomew Square, Brighton BN1 1JP (ref: Simon Bannister).

Tom Mackillop, Russell Square, Brighton