“It is useful on many levels. Firstly, it soaks up water. Professor James Lovelock has the idea that once a species gets too troublesome for the world, the world gets rid of it. The Railway Land is a refuge for wildlife: it is important for it to remain an area of wetland in order to preserve nature’s need of water.”

“EO Wilson,” he continues, “the heir to Darwin, believes the best way of encouraging the care of nature is to expose children at an early age to the importance of a natural environment, and the Railway Land serves this purpose. The building of the proposed Pavilion would help steady the status of the Railway Land, and give it a future which could otherwise be up for grabs.” Talking of which, we move onto the subject of the Phoenix Development. “It is generally better to build developments in towns than on country sites,” he says. “But building on flood plains is building up trouble, if you’re not careful. Six years after the floods of 2000 I can’t believe anyone in Lewes can contemplate building on a flood plain. And even if you manage to protect Lewes from flooding, you are merely pushing the problem downstream: the floods will merely wash Newhaven out to sea.”AL