One must be grateful to Ian Chisnall for setting out so clearly the background to the present controversy about the admission to secondary schools (Letters, February 14). Why it should be left to him rather than Brighton and Hove City Council, I don't know.

If the council would only agree to the web-casting of meetings, thousands of us would be able to be better informed - especially if it were accompanied with the kind of advance notice at present being given to the payment of council tax.

I believe all reasonable people would agree that if schools were of "equal excellence", most problems of admission would disappear.

The question is, "How can this be achieved?"

Some years ago, the Inner London Education Authority made a determined effort to achieve this by arranging for schools to admit on the basis of bands of measured ability, thus ensuring all schools had comparable proportions of clever, average and less able pupils.

This was not without its problems but at least it could be considered fair, creating a level playing field in terms of pupil ability, and more conducive to the creation of a united, contented society than the Government's trickle down approach to education.

Unfortunately, this excellent innovation went when Mrs Thatcher abolished the Greater London Authority - but I believe the idea is re-surfacing in other parts of the country.

-RG Jenkins, Hove