It is amazing Tim Banning (Letters, November 3), fails to mention the environmentally sensitive area (ESA) scheme and its rules, which is the driver for all the changes recently seen on Telscombe Tye.

There is an opportunity (at long last) to change the Tye from a fertiliser-initiated "grass factory" to something a lot more in tune with chalk downland as we know it. It needs grazing and a lot more care to achieve that aim.

How has Mr Banning managed to cope with cattle in the past? How should it be different in the future? Does he have problems controlling his dog?

He seems to have a nostalgia for the farmer's tractor or pick-up truck trying to control cattle movements. Yet more polluted air we were supposed to enjoy, and unnatural damage to the Tye surface.

How does the wire fence affect dogs or dog-walkers adversely?

I have attended town meetings at which the ranger and town councillors explained the benefits of the ESA scheme, sometimes with difficulty because of attempts to shout them down.

The eventual referendum may have had its flaws but it is surely a better way than having policy and decisions made on the basis of "those who shout loudest".

There will always be tensions where farmed land abuts residential areas but they ought to be considered and resolved in a positive spirit of cooperation and respect for all the differing users of the Tye.

Brian Knight,

-Saltdean