I understand Chrissie Coyle's wish to support her son's interest in hockey but she misunderstands why this development is so passionately opposed by hundreds of local residents.

The field is already widely used for all sorts of sports.

My children go to local schools which don't have playing fields so the BHASVIC field is the only place they can enjoy sports.

The size of the development means the rest of the fields' users will have to compete to use a much decreased area. This isn't an improvement in sporting facilities - it's a degradation of them.

This field forms a great, safe multi-use site with the sort of space you don't have in our very small parks.

Some of the use is informal. On any weekend, you'll see dozens of young people there practicing cricket, football and other sports. I was there recently watching a Muslim youth group practicing sports.

This is the use the field was originally intended for when it was donated to the council.

The council currently leases the field to Cardinal Newman School. It must ensure this resource is managed in a way which safeguards it for everybody.

It would make much more sense to redevelop an existing hard-pitch site than dig up this irreplaceable resource.

-William Shaw, Hove