I see the traveller invasion has started again at Stanmer Park, Waterhall, Braypool and so on, invading our parks, disrupting the enjoyment of our local football and cricket teams, frightening our kids and so much more.

But they are only part of the problem.

During the past few years, Brighton and Hove City Council has been putting thousands of stumps around every park and open green space in our city - and who do you think foots the bill for the stumps and the labour costs to put them in the ground? We do, you and me.

It must be hundreds of thousands of pounds of our hard-earned tax wasted on keeping out the travellers and hey, guess what? The stumps don't work, they never did.

So now we move to plan B, rip out the stumps and desecrate our parks by digging great trenches around them and who do you think pays for the pleasure? Yes, it's us again, all to keep out the travellers and, guess what? It won't work.

The travellers are one step ahead. They will find a way, they always do, so I wonder what plan C will be.

Barbed wire fencing, maybe, or watch towers and guard dogs?

The lane adjacent to Waterhall playing fields has always been too narrow and, on football match days, it comes to a standstill with cars unable to park or pass each other.

So now the council has dug a great trench the whole length of Waterhall and banked the dirt 3ft high right on the side of the road, narrowing the road still further and making it impossible to open your door.

But there may be one good thing to come out of all this. I've always said Brighton and Hove has little or no sports facilities for a city of our size. Well, when all these trenches fill with water, we can all go white water rafting, free of charge. What will the council waste our money on next?

-Nick Benn, Brighton