It seems politicans external to this city are jumping on the bandwagon of slagging off the city's seafront. First, Tory shadow cabinet minister Michael Gove and now Simon Hughes from the Lib Dems (The Argus, April 30).

I find this simply ridiculous. The points local Tories have made to belittle the seafront are the "state of the railings" and the bandstand.

Picking the state of the railings really is trivial. Since the mid- Nineties the seafront has seen much improvement. We now have basketball and volleyball courts plus a replacement for the old pad - dling pool. Remember how it was before? Abandoned putting greens and rats lurking in the drained old boating lake. Denigrating the seafront is simply stupid.

And did these external politicans simply do a websearch and find the constant moanings about the bandstand? Of course the bandstand is an issue in need of resolution.

But that shouldn't diminish the excellent progress made, such as the new Yellow Wave Beach Sports complex. Prior to that, we had a shabby, run-down arcade.

I am proud of our seafront and feel it reflects the renaissance of Brighton. It's about time those outside this city got their facts straight.

  • Sam Cullen, Ditchling Road, Brighton