David Lepper - Was Pavilion Gardens 'mass' consultation an open discussion?

When I was a councillor, then an MP and now an ordinary resident, I often disagreed with the views of The Brighton Society.

But the society is an important organisation in our civic life and its views deserve to be heard.

Yet the letter from its secretary Selma Montford (The Argus, October 18) suggests it was not among those consulted over plans for the Royal Pavilion Estate, its gardens and the Pavilion Gardens Café.

This was supposed to be a “mass consultation”.

But is it, in fact, a case of the council only consulting those it thought would give the answers it wanted to hear?

David Lepper, former Labour MP for Brighton Pavilion