I feel I add enormous value to the community in my role as a teacher and I enjoy my work.

Yet I speak for many when I say Brighton and Hove is now out of reach and we cannot afford to stay. I might find a bathroom on my salary.

Maybe I could sleep in the bath and mark my books in the sink. Or I might rent and line the pockets of developers and say goodbye to more than half my salary.

Or maybe I'll just do what many of my peers who trained with me only four years ago are doing. I'll lodge an application with the New Zealand or Australian embassy and take my skills elsewhere, where I know I can enjoy a lifestyle my contribution merits.

So when Brighton and Hove has truly become the most fashionable borough of London and the next generation of Brightonians and Hoveites has been forced to live away from its roots, the city's commuting elite will need to ensure they have no kids.

They might realise communities are not just built on healthy balance sheets and booming businesses but on people willing to add real value to people's lives in the area where they live. Brighton and Hove is selling out and I, with nothing to sell, will add my value elsewhere.

-Name and address supplied