LETTER OF THE DAY: Don't miss this meeting about the seafront

To make sure that Portsmouth residents have a choice of designs to protect our precious seafront from rising sea levels and storm surges - and that we are properly engaged in a collaborative design process from the beginning, the Defend Southsea Seafront campaign would like to invite residents and local businesses to their next meeting tomorrow '“ Wednesday, November 29 at St Simon's Church, Waverley Road Southsea from 7pm to 8.30pm.

As local residents we are determined to make our voices heard early in the design process, rather than waiting for the East Solent Coastal Partnership engineers to come up with one design – which may not be acceptable.

More than 3, 500 people have signed the Change.org e-petition asking for a choice of designs to protect Southsea’s precious seafront and the numbers are growing every day.

Many have added their postcode, so the politicians who commission the design can see that we are local voters.

We want to contribute our local knowledge and expertise to the process, so that our precious beach is not replaced by concrete and high barriers.

In October, local people may have heard about the alternatives for the sea defences at the well-attended Old Portsmouth and East Southsea Neighbourhood Forums.

We have asked the leader of Portsmouth City Council to hold Planning for Real or Community Planning events - like those arranged to determine the future of Royal Clarence Yard in Gosport - so that together with the East Solent Design Partnership we can together come up with an innovative design to protect and enhance our seafront - which we all support.

Celia Clark

Defend Southsea Seafront

Florence Road, Southsea