David Rowland and others who have written to object to the proposed closure of the Brighton History Centre may wish to know that there is an e-petition on the city council’s website that they can sign.

Although this is described as “a quick and easy way to ... influence local decision making”, it is not easy to find from the home page, as it is not included in any menus.

However, the excellent mybrightonandhove.org.uk website has an easy link on every page.

Meanwhile, Coun Smith’s argument that “facilities in the future will be much better than they are today” holds no water.

Not in the foreseeable future, they won’t. Even less credible is his claim that the Brighton History Centre’s resources “will be continuously available”.

It is impossible to envisage where the current resources could be housed in the Jubilee Library as is proposed. The current collection of books, maps, newspapers, microfilms and microfiches, photographs and films, plus the viewers, computers and table space needed by users will simply not fit.

Even worse, the integrity of the collection, with its expert librarians, will be lost. That is a lot more than a mere “temporary inconvenience”.

The proposed longer-term replacement for the history centre, a new joint East Sussex/Brighton and Hove records office at Falmer called The Keep, is a long way off. Coun Smith is showing commendable but unrealistic optimism to say it will be built in two years.

There will not even be a planning application until next summer and current plans, already scaled back, would not meet Brighton and Hove planning requirements.

Even if planning permission is eventually granted, Brighton and Hove City Council would then have to raise £5.3 million towards the cost.

In recessionary times such projects will stand little chance against more important services. Compared with that, £60,000 is a pittance to preserve a facility of which the city can be proud.

David Fisher, Highbank, Brighton