Lessons have been learned from the row about a home for autistic children which ended up in the High Court.

After Brighton and Hove City Council and NCH Action for Children failed to reach agreement about the cost of running Palmeira House, a decision was made to close the home.

But parents of the children went to the High Court and it was decided to keep the project going.

Pat Foster, who manages finance for the council's social care department, gave evidence to a scrutiny panel which is looking at what went wrong.

She said: "The biggest lesson is not to start a service until all the terms and conditions have been agreed and the contract has been signed."

Asked by Labour councillor John Newington why the social services committee had not been told of the rapidly rising costs of the service, Ms Foster said it still seemed as if agreement could be reached about the price.

Managers felt it would have been possible for NCH, which ran the service for the council, to work within the approved budget.

Coun Gerry Kielty said as talks dragged on between the council and NCH, there seems to have been no feedback to politicians.

Ms Foster said: "The service was being provided and negotiations were still going on."

She said managers still felt the price did not need to be as high as it was.

They felt it could have been reduced by cutting the number of staff and by not using agency staff.

More meetings of the scrutiny panel will be held this month before a report is produced.