For Conservative councillor Tony Janio to describe Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet’s decision on the siting of a permanent gypsy and travellers’ site at the former BMX site off Wilson Avenue as being “an example of best practice” (The Argus, August 19) beggars belief.

This decision was taken with no prior consultation with residents, no public information on the list of other sites assessed or reasons why they were rejected and no published report into the contamination of the site. Elected ward councillors had to resort to formal complaints before getting the barest of details. Residents and respected community leaders were prevented from being able to speak directly to the decision makers at both the cabinet and scrutiny meeting.

There has been no public evaluation of the BMX site with the other assessed sites. We are being asked by the Tories to take on trust that a site needing extensive and expensive decontamination work, that will require additional, permanent methane venting, that is on landfill next to a waste tip and that runs counter to the council’s own planning policies is the best possible location. When given more than a year to carry out this assessment they should have come up with more than the negligible data that was presented before the decision makers, many of whom had not even visited the site.

Residents of East Brighton do not see this as an example of best practice. They see it as an abuse of power. For the Tories now to be congratulating themselves on their actions is disgraceful. They have made a dangerously undemocratic decision.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, leader of the Labour group, Brighton and Hove City Council