Can we just a get a few things straight about the Capital of Culture campaign?

Most of the many letters published in The Argus have said the same thing: It was a waste of money and Brighton and Hove City Council should concentrate on more important things.

There was also some re-writing of history by Councillor Jenny Barnard-Langston that would have made a Hollywood film producer blush. What a fantastic cheek to criticise the Place To Be campaign (Letters, November 4).

As mayor, she milked it for all it was worth, using it as a platform for her standing in the 2001 General Election. She even turned up for the celebratory photo call when we won.

The council spent £150,000 on events to support the Capital of Culture campaign - a fraction of one per cent of our budget. This was not spent on bureaucracy or councillors but on events and initiatives that were enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people.

One reader suggests we should have spent the money on street cleaning.

Here is irrefutable proof of where the council's priorities lie: It spends £14 million a year on refuse collection and street cleaning. It spends 870 times more on social care (about £65 million) and roughly 1,500 times more on education (about £120 million) every year.

Some people mistakenly assumed from the very high-profile Where Else campaign that the council was doing nothing else. Instead, behind the scenes, more money than ever was being put into street cleaning and schools.

The campaign secured another £500,000 in business sponsorship and grants.

The city would have been literally poorer had we not bid. Sponsorship from transport companies enabled us to mount the first major international and regional advertising campaign for the city in years. Posters appeared in tube trains and at railway stations across the South.

Promoting Brighton and Hove means real jobs for people such as carpenters, lawyers, florists, builders, accountants, taxi drivers and computer buffs. I don't mind if people disagree that culture creates employment - their heads can remain in the sand - but that is the sincere belief shared by our 11 rival cities and our true purpose.

-Coun Jackie Lythell, Brighton and Hove City Council