This was a crude and deliberate attempt by an inexperienced and ambitious MP to turn one community against another in order to achieve his own party political objectives (to damage the Eco-Town process which is seen by Conservatives as a Labour initiative).

As local people, with experience of local government at county, district and parish levels, we became increasingly aware of, and concerned at, the housing, transport and employment problems in Arun district.

The FEH Eco-Town submission is a serious attempt to address these problems, and to put local needs ahead of national party politics.

Unlike MPs Nick Herbert and Nick Gibb, we are keen to find out the views of the whole district, not just those from the "council-led community campaign against the proposal" (source: Arun District Council press release, April 3, 2008, since removed from the Arun website!).

We encourage everyone to take part in the current public consultation ending on June 30 and to attend the local exhibitions on June 19, 20 and 21.

Ford Airfield has approximately 268 acres of previously developed land, making it the largest brownfield site in the district.

Nick Herbert openly suggested on the BBC's Politics Show on Sunday that "it would make much more sense to put that (development) nearer to Bognor and Littlehampton".

At least we now know what Mr Herbert's agenda is.

He seems to be attempting to steer development towards greenfield locations in Nick Gibb's constituency – who seems to be a willing recipient.

Will either of these two MPs support constituents in these locations in the same way that they are supporting constituents in the vicinity of Ford Airfield?

Arun's Local Development Framework sub-committee short-listed greenfield locations in Bersted and north of Littlehampton as preferred options for large-scale development.

The LDF was then suspended and so this was never put to full council and has still to be decided.

An Eco-Town at Ford is a realistic and exciting way forward and Arun has an opportunity to play a leading role nationally in sustainable development.

Eco-Town status alone will give the district an incredible, unique selling point over other districts and create significant advantages over and above traditional developments (for instance, a zero-carbon community, on-site energy generation, Arun will become a national or even international environmental exemplar, a £200m contribution towards infrastructure, etc.).

Neither MP appears to have given any consideration at all to the advantages for the district of Eco-Town status.

Tony Dixon, Harold Hall, John Penfold, co-authors of the Ford Enterprise Hub Eco-Town submission, Barons Close, Westergate

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