AS MUCH of a fan I was of Bobby Zamora and Mark Noble, and the opposite for the opposition to their prospective housing scheme, I must admit I have to change coat on this issue.

Coastal development in Sussex has to slow down as all these small towns and surrounding areas have remained so for a long time.

And as promising and perfect this consortium made this scheme sound, they missed off two words from their nursery rhyme - "cha-ching".

Buying up any commercial or social ground such as factory space and sports grounds cheaply and cashing in on private sell properties has to be stopped.

The fact is that these consortiums get their way on the issues they are putting forward here "council allocation requirements" but nobody is challenging the lack of structural allowance to the infrastructures of these areas, building new schools/nurseries, doctors' surgeries/dentists/hospitals etc to accommodate all the swelled population these schemes will produce.

I speak from the "once bitten" mentality. I lived in Chadwell Heath where West Ham’s training ground was. On my estate they closed community centres, knocked down public toilets and garages, pubs, a school annexe with playing fields that would be a mid to large school in any area, even the local church was knocked flat and rebuilt with a four-storey flats complex on top of it.

Lastly, as we were leaving they were in the process of piling and laying foundations to install a first stage of 250 prefabricated homes on what was a greenfield park area with a small lake on the A12. All of these areas were built with no infrastructure alterations.

Avoid this at any cost. You don’t know how lucky you are.

John Gander

Address supplied