Councillors are to investigate what went wrong over the closure of a home for autistic children.

The Palmeira Project in Hove, run for Brighton and Hove Council by the charity NCH Action for Children, is to shut in November.

Angry parents want it kept open and are blaming the council for the closure. The council says the decision has been made by NCH, which could not keep within its budget.

Now the council's scrutiny management committee has agreed to hold an investigation into the breakdown of the contract with NCH.

But the committee decided, amid protests, that only those councillors trained in dealing with sensitive issues should serve on the scrutiny panel, which will be set up shortly.

There will be four Labour councillors, two Conservatives and one Green councillor on the panel.

Labour's John Newington said it was important that only councillors who had been properly trained should take part in the investigation.

But Tory opposition leader Geoffrey Theobald said: "Parties should be able to choose who they want. The issue is over mistakes made by the council or NCH and that is not sensitive."

Geraldine Payne, mother of one of the children, said: "I don't want my privacy protected. I just want justice."

Coun Alison Hermitage, who chairs the scrutiny management committee, said if any untrained councillors were selected by the parties it would be possible to train them before the investigation took place.

The project was originally due to close in August after NCH exceeded the council budget by £100,000.

But last month, after NCH and the council held talks, the closure was put back until November to allow more time for the children to settle elsewhere.

They will be moved to other homes run by the council, which says they will continue to receive excellent care.