The problems at Patcham High, so well described by school governor Greg Hadfield (Letters, March 7), are the predictable - and predicted - result of Brighton and Hove City Council's decision to put Westdene in the Blatchington Mill/Hove Park catchment rather than that for Patcham High.

This has left Patcham High permanently short of local applicants, and produced the absurd situation where directed children trekking across from Portslade to Patcham High criss-cross with Westdene children on their way to Hove Park Lower.

There is still time for the council to correct this error for 2009 and it must find the courage to do so. It would be particularly fitting if Withdean councillor Ken Norman, a member of the working group that drew the catchment boundaries, were to take the lead in persuading his colleagues to act.

  • Robert Eastwood, Harrington Road Brighton