John Prescott was correct in rejecting the proposals for a football stadium at Falmer and, as the club says it has rejected the other sites (Brighton station, Coral stadium, Shoreham Harbour, Sheepcote Valley, Toad's Hole Valley, Withdean and Waterhall), it must look again at other possibilities.

As I understand it, Brighton and Hove City Council and Worthing borough Council run Shoreham Airport and are investigating ways of increasing income there.

Why, then, do they not kill two birds with one stone and offer the Albion a new home there? There is land aplenty to the north west of the site, adjacent to the A27 which would provide excellent road access.

To the south is the railway. It once had an airport halt which perhaps the rail authorities could be persuaded to re-establish and there would also be access from the A259.

Some enterprising company could set up a shuttle bus service from the existing Shoreham rail station or a state-of-the-art monorail or tramway similar to the ones mooted forBrighton seafront could be installed.

The area is to the east of the existing housing at North Lancing. It is flat - which Falmer is certainly not - and would therefore be cheaper to develop as there would be less earthworks involved.

A new footbridge over the A27 would give access to the nearest public house and the existing toll bridge would give access to the pubs and restaurant at its eastern end.

The airport itself would benefit from the private flights of the upper echelons of the football scene, allowing direct access to the stadium by trainers, managers and players etc.

When I raised this proposal several years ago on local radio, the idea was pooh-poohed by the local councillor, who had some responsibility for the airport. He said the site was too wet, implying it was liable to flooding.

Yet in the 40-odd years I have lived in Hove, I have never heard any reports of flooding in the area and surely Ricardos, a highly sophisticated engineering and research centre, would not be based in such an apparently vulnerable area, nor for that matter would the Adur centre.

The non-football facilities proposed for the stadium, if based at this site, could be shared equally with Worthing - something that Falmer does not as easily lend itself to.

True, Shoreham is not in the city, but then neither is Falmer, nor for that matter was the original Goldstone ground and the Albion have considered Shoreham Harbour.

There is another site not far away at the old cement works to the south of Upper Beeding and Bramber.

With the need to demolish existing buildings, this would be more expensive but there have been suggestions in the past to develop the site for a ski jump or sports centre. Most of my arguments for the airport as a possible site would apply.

As far as I can ascertain, no consideration of either site has been made by the Albion and I strongly recommend they now do just that.

AFA Simmons

-Poplar Avenue, Hove