How refreshing. Tim Brown's letter on the West Pier (Letters, February 28) brought a voice of balance to this obsessional issue.

I would like to see the pier restored but not at the expense of Brighton's open promenade and uninterrupted sea views. This, for me, and others surely, is what a seaside city is about.

If the alternative shoreside development which is level with the road cannot fund the work on the pier, let's implement that imaginative plan for the promenade and allow the pier to crumble away.

-Sally Free, Great College Street, Brighton