There is a simple truth apparent in the whole i360 saga, which Councillor Jason Kitcat and his fellow councillors would do well to learn: after years and years of the developers scratching around for private investment, and finding that private investors are not interested, it’s probably a dumb idea.

To loan £36 million to the i360, or “Kitcat’s Folly” as it is rapidly becoming known, is an affront to us all when these same people are trying to play on our heartstrings to extract more council tax “for the old people”.

I was going to suggest Coun Kitcat might as well just take the £36 million and dump it off the end of what’s left of the West Pier but I then thought of his challenge to Councillor Warren Morgan on Twitter: “How do you propose paying for seafront [regeneration] then?”

If Coun Kitcat is looking for an attraction to lure visitors in that direction, I can suggest something: every weekend, chuck £50,000 up in the air at the West Pier for people to grab – they’d turn up all right. You could do this every single week for the decade, and it would still be £10 million cheaper than the proposed loan for the i360, which we’ll probably never get back.

Finally, one cannot chuckle enough at the enthusiasm of Audrey Simpson for the i360 (Letters, March 8). Surely this is not the same Audrey Simpson who was equally forthright in her condemnation of the Brighton Wheel proposal (Letters, August 30, 2011)?

That, too, came with the promise of job creation and regeneration, and we as a city didn’t have to stump up a loan of £36 million.

To borrow from the seafront “yoof” vernacular, it seems i360 Audrey has “pulled a 180”.

Tony Davenport, Vernon Terrace, Brighton

I can’t wait to zoom up the new i360 tower to get a starling’s eye view of Brighton’s landscape.

I will gaze in awe at the remains of the West Pier, the Hippodrome, the Astoria cinema and, of course, Pool Valley (the bus station that never was).

At least from that height the potholes and overflowing rubbish bins won’t be as obvious.

On second thoughts, perhaps a different council might consider building something like a world-class ice skating rink and a new bus station for a start, followed by a revamp of public gardens such as Old Steine and Preston Park.

Roy Saunders, The Martlets, Sompting

The London Eye has amazing views of many famous landmarks. The i360 will not.

London Eye users come from a potential pool of millions of people. The i360 pool would be thousands.

People do not seem very interested in the Wheel in Brighton.

I doubt if the i360 would have any greater appeal.

E Howard, Gladys Avenue, Peacehaven

It is with great sadness that I have watched the West Pier deteriorate so badly. What a shame.

Let’s get on with rebuilding the West Pier as it originally looked in the 1920s.

Use the £36 million loan for this rather than have a huge column sticking up in the air.

These piers are special to the coast of England as we are the only country in the world, with our Victorian heritage, which has them.

M Clough, Park Rise, Hangleton