Keep Sussex Skating (KSS) holds an archive report of the Brighton Regency Blades Skater Hockey Club.

Skaters were very concerned their seasonal indoor hockey sessions may end due to the proposed redevelopment of the aged Hove leisure centre.

The report included a quote from KSS calling for Brighton and Hove City Council to provide a new indoor roller skating centre (Evening Argus, March 12, 1997).

Eight years on, the hockey club, now called Brighton Street Stormers, faces an identical scenario - when King Alfred finally closes, hockey skaters will have no suitable facility for their indoor training.

Other dry sports needing a large sports hall will also lose out.

True to say, the council could see this coming but where in 2005 is the council's stop-gap strategy? Where is plan B to appease the sports enthusiasts?

Our city relies on tourism, therefore our visitors also need leisure facilities.

KSS is promoting the call for an Emergency Plan B as a solution to the closure of King Alfred.

Brighton's Preston Park has a council-designated public skating area the size of two tennis courts.

If the council gets its skates on, an emergency-sanctioned low-pitched building, providing an indoor roller centre could be built in time for the closure of King Alfred.

Therefore, the KSS Emergency Plan B project has been submitted proposing a valid, fast-track skating solution for the city.

Come on city council, let's Keep Sussex Skating, venue, Preston Park.

-Patricia Ginman, Brighton