The council has a duty to plan and provide school places across Brighton and Hove (Letters, March 18).

But the Government has said that all new schools must be a free school or an academy – which means that no new schools are local authority-run.

Greens oppose academies because they take education away from local democratic oversight, they allow interest groups to set curriculums and they can set their own admissions policies, which can marginalise disadvantaged children.

There are other practical problems too: for every academy that opens in the city, the council loses funding to support and service all schools.

Academy status is no guarantee of better results for children. Instead, we believe that schools are most likely to improve when they are part of a local authority family, sharing best practice and training.

We need better resources for schools and support for teachers – which is exactly what the Government is removing.

We have, however, continued to support our existing schools and expand on the success of our most successful ones, such as West Hove Infants, which expanded into the Connaught, and West Hove Junior into the former Hove police station.

Secondary school places will be a challenge but, through a cross-party working group, we are planning ahead as best we are able to within Government restrictions.

Councillor Sue Shanks, Green, chair of the children and young people’s committee, Brighton and Hove City Council