Brighton and Hove is a great and raffish place to be but it is not a great city. The money and energy spent on seeking Capital of Culture status has been misplaced.

Anybody who has visited any of the six UK finalist cities will understand why Brighton and Hove has not been selected.

Birmingham, for instance, has a world-class pedestrianised city centre with a wealth of Victorian buildings, an international concert hall, a modern conference centre and a very good art gallery and museum.

Furthermore, the city centre streets are clean. The state of our streets can hardly have helped the cultural ambitions of Brighton and Hove City Council.

It was instructive to hear council leader Ken Bodfish immediately turned his attentions to refuse collection and street cleaning after he heard Brighton and Hove had not made the short-list.

This is the man who famously told us a year ago he had no idea how much it cost to empty a dustbin.

Perhaps he will swallow his cultural pride and get on with the issues of real concern to local people - keeping the city clean and safe.

-Bill Randall, Deputy Co-ordinator, Brighton and Hove Green Party