I must protest in the strongest terms about the article "Can our region take any more people?"

about population increases in Sussex (The Argus, September 8).

East and West Sussex certainly haven't had their numbers "massively boosted" by immigration and, while Brighton and Hove has recently experienced a bit of an increase in population (compared to the UK as a whole), I'm sure this might have been predicted, given the massive amount of money spent in the past few years on promotion and marketing since we became a city. What was the point of all that if we didn't want to grow?

UK population increased by 0.63 per cent in the year to mid-2005, according to the latest population estimates. Brighton and Eastbourne's growth was above average, increasing by 1.23 per cent and 0.87 per cent respectively.

However, East and West Sussex grew much more slowly (0.24 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively), and six local authorities in Sussex were amongst the 20 slowest growers in London and the South-East, including Adur and Crawley, which saw population decreases last year.

East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove combined saw lower growth than nationally (0.45 per cent) - so, no "massive boost", as far as I can see.

In fact, like many areas of northern Europe, most districts are suffering from a fairly (demographically speaking) catastrophic fall in birthrates to below replacement rate which will have a terrible effect on our economic growth if we do not mitigate the effect by allowing other ways of boosting population.

And, in most districts until very recently, any population increase has been due to internal movements within the UK, with net outflows internationally in some districts.

More housing is needed because the number of households is increasing which, in turn, is because more people want to live alone or in smaller family units - not because "these people" are coming over here and taking all our housing.

Many "foreigners", such as my 25- year-old Spanish niece, come here for short periods to learn English and work in caring for our burgeoning elderly population, doing work locals don't want to do in care homes which would otherwise be woefully understaffed.

It would really help race relations in this country - and counter the xenophobes - if newspapers could try to report these issues responsibly - starting, please, with yourselves.

Lenna Santamaria, Brighton