Brighton and Hove City Council's decision to close East Brighton's College of Media Arts (Comart) must have always been the long term objective, even before the so-called consultation with parents. What a policy of despair.

Whitehawk is in an area urgently needing regeneration yet residents are being told their senior school is to close. What is that going to do for local pride and the education of future generations?

It will certainly not address the current truancy levels which may well deteriorate if children are dispersed further afield.

There is also a danger that some of the problem at Comart could be transferred to other schools.

Closure of the school will not disadvantage the more academically-minded pupils - they are already being relocated - but it does nothing for those who are failing to benefit from the schooling on offer at Comart or other comprehensives in the city.

The obvious solution is a smaller school run on vocational and moral principles which would get students into apprenticeships and jobs, making them less reliant on the State later in life.

This could be an opportunity for real drive and imagination in providing a different sort of school for some of the most underprivileged and underperforming children in the UK.

Councillor Pat Hawkes (Letters, March 8) says a smaller school is not viable and would need a special subsidy. I find such objections negative and unconvincing.

-Alan Nunn, Hove