The inference that parents could use after-school clubs and activities at Downs Junior School, instead of using Action Station, by a Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman (The Argus, March 15), shows how little the council appears to understand the needs of working parents.

After-school clubs and activities are not a substitute for childcare. They still require parents to leave work early in order to pick up their child from school and to look after them until the school club or activity starts (and then come back an hour later to pick them up).

Working parents need reliable and affordable childcare both after school and in the school holidays.

Taking that childcare away, no matter how sorry you are, does not cut much ice with a parent who might potentially lose their job.

Nor can parents afford to take six months off work while the new facilities are built.

That is why it is essential to provide temporary childcare during construction of the new canteen and that the new canteen has the same, or greater, capacity for childcare than the current buildings have.

Apart from proposing to build a canteen which is inflexible in its design, it is disappointing very little thought appears to have been given to creating a building which will help reduce the school's environmental impact.

This is a wonderful opportunity to create a superb on-site educational asset with rainwater recycling and solar hot-water panels, plus many other features.

It would also save the school money in the longer term. I would urge the council and the school to rethink these proposals and to involve local parents in the decision-making process.

That way we stand a chance of getting a new community facility we can all be proud of.

-Chris Todd, Brighton