The Argus may be shedding tears over councillors' overwhelming rejection of planning permission for the lap-dancing/cabaret club in Western Road.

The dozens of people who live in the houses on three sides of this substantial building, however, are delighted by the decision.

The sub-committee agreed with residents about the damage such a late-night venue would do to our quality of life in Brunswick village.

The councillors took our objections seriously - unlike The Argus. Your report most prominently listed residents' objections as fears over Parking problems, litter and blighted house prices.

This emphasis is insulting. Parking was certainly one argument against but our chief fears focussed on other effects of yet another licensed venue in our very densely populated neighbourhood.

These were the disturbance to us from noise from the building, the coming and going of its customers until 1 am and the increased risk of anti-social behaviour and crime - all in an area already plagued by these problems.

And, as your leader grudgingly noted, the police were in agreement with us.

It didn't matter to us whether the Tivoli Club was to be a saucy cabaret club, a night-club, a disco or a superpub - enough already.

We did not want yet another business with a licence on our doorsteps - particularly one operating into the small hours, staging shows to hundreds of people (potentially) in the course of one night.

Colmaart Enterprises claims residents misunderstood the nature of its proposal. Nonsense. We were just not convinced by its evocation of the Moulin Rouge and the claim that only "well-heeled", well-behaved clientele would be using the club.

Get real. To quote one of the sub-committee members on Wednesday afternoon, we were objecting to what amounted to another "glorified pub" in our midst.

Planning in Brighton and Hove demands striking the right balance between the interests of the leisure industry and those of residents. In our part of Brunswick village, those interests have already tipped in favour of the former, to the detriment of people's quality of life.

The planning case against the Tivoli Club was, and remains, a very good one indeed.

-Andrew Luck-Baker, Brighton and Richard Oxford, Hove