No doubt the decision by NCH Action for Children to close the Palmeira Project was a very tough one, as Deryk Mead, chief executive of NCH Action for Children, states (Opinion, July 13).

However, that does not make it any less excusable. Mr Mead is not only being disingenuous, but also seems to be suffering from a lapse of memory.

It was only three years ago that NCH, together with the Brighton and Hove Council, closed the Marina House Project on the same premise and threatened the staff there with disciplinary action if they continued to speak out.

One of the key arguments for closing the existing service was that a new project would be put in its place. We now know, from Mr Mead's own admission, that the service was set up without fully knowing or anticipating the needs of the children NCH was catering for.

If NCH seriously believed, as a charity, it was not appropriate to use their money to support a service the local authority should have provided, then why on earth did they set out along this road?

As the parent of an autistic child, I am fully aware both of the lack of local authority provision in Brighton and Hove for autism and the range of schools and provision provided by other charities and trusts.

There was nothing to prevent NCH from charging a realistic fee to the local authority for provision at the Palmeira Project and encouraging parents to demand that the local authority pay up, as is their statutory duty, via the Education Appeals Tribunal if necessary.

It is difficult to know whose behaviour is worse; a council which doesn't have the money for autistic children but can cheerfully increase its own expenses, or a charity with a flair for touching people's heart strings while keeping a firm grip on its purse strings.

-Tony Greenstein, Secretary, Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre