Mike has questioned Royal Mail over why residents of Portslade must include the term ‘Brighton’ within their addresses.

Having been contacted about the issue by a number of Portslade residents since his election in May 2010, Mike is campaigning for the requirement to include ‘Brighton’ to be dropped. It is one of a number of local identity campaigns which Mike is running, one of which is his well-known battle for quality boundary signs to be installed at the entrance points to both Hove and Portslade.

In a letter to Moya Greene, the Chief Executive of Royal Mail, Mike has pointed out that the town of Portslade is not in Brighton and that it does not even share a boundary with Brighton. It is separated from Brighton by the town of Hove – and residents of Hove are certainly not expected to use the term ‘Brighton’ in their addresses!

Other towns and counties have campaigned against inappropriate postal arrangements over the years with some success. For example, a whole new postal county was created for the people of Rutland in 2007 after a long campaign for its creation.

Mike said, “Reinforcing local identity is a huge priority for me. There certainly is confusion over how residents of Portslade should write their addresses. Most letters that I receive from Portslade include ‘East Sussex’ which is frowned upon by Royal Mail. I find it entirely bizarre that ‘Brighton’ must be included when Portslade is not in Brighton nor is it even joined to Brighton. Portslade has a sorting office so it is entirely right that it is recognised as Post Town in its own right.”