Educational officials will investigate whether vocational training can be offered at a school threatened with closure.

Councillors have agreed to hold consultation on closing East Brighton College of Media Arts, known as Comart, after poor exam results and falling rolls.

But Tory education spokeswoman Vanessa Brown said: "We should continue to look at the possibility of vocational training there.

"This could serve not only East Brighton but also the rest of the city."

Coun Brown told Brighton and Hove City Council's policy committee this would have been a better option than media when the school was launched four years ago.

Schools councillor Pat Hawkes agreed the vocational option should be looked at but stressed it was not possible, as some had suggested, to establish a small school at the site.

Green convenor Keith Taylor said he hoped lessons would be learned from the failure of Comart, including the decision to use it as part of a private finance initiative.

This was likely to prove costly for the city council.

Friday September 19, 2003