IN TODAY'S Spotlight Argus is the article about Black Rock and as it finishes with our council leader, Nancy Platts commenting she would like to know what the Community think, I thought I would oblige her.

I'm the other side of 50 now and can remember nothing ever being at Black Rock other than a mess, though admittedly I am from the west side of town and as kids in the 70s we wouldn't have ventured that far.

Firstly, spot on with the plan of tidying the site up and making it available to use for pop up events, that makes a lot of sense and will generate income for the city.

But, this waterfront idea has some serious flaws in it.

Yes, the Brighton Centre is getting on a bit now and with a capacity of around 5000, means it is limited with being able to draw bigger attractions, with the likes of Elton John and Rod Stewart performing outdoors at Hove Cricket Ground and the Amex football stadium to accommodate their demand.

I'm all for a good outdoors concert, but it is weather permitting and very seasonal.

A new 10-20k capacity venue would be a massive benefit to the city both economically and personally to its residents.

But, location wise Black Rock is not well placed one bit.

The public transport there is woeful and an adequate car park would need to be monstrous in size.

To be really ambitious and compete for the massive conferences, exhibitions and concerts, the visitor experience needs to be seriously considered.

More bus routes from the city centre won't do that.

A bit of joined up thinking and planning, could help propel the city ahead of a lot of competing city rivals for that and more business.

A few years back, the local entrepreneur David Courtney had an idea of an electric monorail system serving the marina, seafront and city centre.

This idea perhaps needs looking at again.

The marina grows its size and population, yet it still feels a little bit cut off from Brighton.

There is talk of even more buildings being erected down there, these new dwellers need to be able to move around, without cars ideally, both from an environmental perspective, as well as the fact, there isn't enough parking offered in those new build developments for everyday habitants that need to daily commute to work.

A monorail from the marina to at least the bottom of West Street would connect the City much better.

Ideally, up to the station.

Put in a few stops along Madeira Drive and I bet other commercial opportunities would arise for those immediate area to better flourish.

I'll throw in a curve ball to finish, alternatively talk to the owners of Brighton Marina about them having Black Rock included in their mixed residential /commercial development, they could join the Marina and Black Rock together and in turn, they could put a few million pounds towards the monorail project or maybe a new conference centre to be built on the King Alfred site, which already has a mainline railway station within a 10-minute walk.

Gordon White, Portslade