Paul-John Harris is within his rights to write to the Prime Minister to demand the Second World War tunnels at South Heighton be sealed (The Argus, October 21) but why should the taxpayer fork out for this?

The tunnels were built under the Emergency Powers Act for the nation's defence and returned to the owners of the land which they ran beneath in 1945.

The tunnels did not show up on land searches as they were not mines, however they were known about locally. Indeed, they were surveyed in the Seventies as a possible regional seat of government and again in the early-Nineties, as a local authority emergency HQ.

To fill them in would require the removal of the metal lining and some 3-4,000 cubic metres of concrete pumped in. This at a time when Lewes and Uckfield need flood defences.

These tunnels are unique in their role and condition. English Heritage recognise them as being of national importance.

They must be preserved as a tribute to those who built them and those who worked in them.

-Peter Mason, chairman, Friends of HMS Forward, Seaford