I am amazed a Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman can defend the £27.50 per head for councillors' meals as it "covered not only the food but the cost of transporting it to the town hall, the fuel used to heat it and paying caterers to clear up afterwards".

Most restaurants in Brighton will provide a two-course meal for much less than that and they, too, have to heat it, pay staff and clear up afterwards - as well as having to pay for premises in the popular parts of town, where rates are high.

Any takeaway (and most restaurants) will deliver a decent meal for less than £10 per head and deliver it free if more than £10 is spent.

So why doesn't the council order in meals from small businesses?

I'm always shocked at how any services provided to the council are way over the top when it comes to price and there's always some civil servant prepared to make an excuse for it.

Would they pay that amount out of their own pockets?

-Sue Baumgardt, Hove