LESSONS must be learnt from a failed deal that would have seen prime council land sold cut price to a spiritual group, a council leader has said.

Councillor David Tutt said he was pleased for the taxpayer that the deal was no longer going ahead between East Sussex County Council and a spiritual group in Lewes called Subud.

Cllr Tutt, leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, was part of a panel which probed the sale of St Anne’s School in Rotten Row, Lewes.

The deal was at the centre of a controversy that rumbled on for almost three years after Subud came out on top as a preferred bidder in October 2013.

On Tuesday it was announced the deal would be terminated.

Cllr Tutt said: “I’m very pleased.

"Clearly the deal was not going to be the best value for the taxpayer.

“I hope what they will do is go through a process of learning from this and make sure it doesn’t happen in future.

“The actual value of the site is a key lesson in this.

“The value initially reported to council was way below £1 million.

“And then to find the value was about four times that... that’s a big, big difference.

“It’s incumbent on local authorities in any time, but especially today, to get best value.”

The councillor wrote to decision-makers at the council earlier this year asking them to review the case after the housing revelation.

Cllr Tutt also said “other things crept in which felt wrong”.

Among them was the issue of giving Subud a 999-year lease, something he said was “tantamount to giving them the freehold”.

Reflecting on his role leading the cross-party scrutiny group, the Lib Dem councillor added: “I still believe now there was no impropriety.”

Subud Lewes , which rejects any suggestions of being a “cult”, said in a statement that unexpected changes to the lease (shortening it to 125 years) “made the project unviable”.

It added it was “greatly saddened” that “lengthy and arduous negotiations” had failed to reach an agreement and expressed “the sincere wish that the site remains mainly an asset for community benefit”.

The council has said it will review its options for the site’s future.

STORY WITH MORE TWISTS THAN THE PLOT’S WINDING DRIVEWAY

AS a plot of land, it seems unremarkable, but the recent wrangle over it has more twists and turns than its tree-lined driveway.

Walk slowly down the flint and red-brick-sided highway of leafy Rotten Row in Lewes and you might miss it, but rising steadily upwards on one side among the foliage is a four-and-a-half acre site that has remained almost dormant for more than 10 years.

St Anne’s School, a late 19th century mansion complete with Tarmac playground, grass playing field and scenic parking, broke up for the last time in the summer of 2005.

Over the next five years the site, owned by East Sussex County Council, saw rising vandalism, and in the spring of 2011, was occupied by climate change activists.

This was the beginning of what descended into a battle over a sprawling public asset bordering the council’s own County Hall site.

After removing the activists, the council set up a steering group to work out the best way forward, and in October 2012, decided to tender it out the site for community use.

By early 2013, three groups had filed bids for the site, with plans ranging from housing to community rooms and gardens.

Step forward Subud – a spiritual movement that was founded in the late 1920s and today has more than 10,000 members in 70 countries across the world.

Made up of about 50 groups in Britain, Subud Lewes helped establish the independent Lewes New School in September 2000, while members bought the county council’s Pelham House HQ for a little over £2 million in 2013.

The Lewes group went on to propose plans for the St Anne’s building to incorporate two halls for gender-segregated meditation as part of its own practices as well as rooms for meetings and learning.

Eyebrows were raised among locals when it emerged the council had accepted Subud’s offer of £525,000 over the £100,000 highest higher bid, but defended the decision, saying the winding driveway into the site meant it wasn’t suitable access for housing.

The row turned bitter when opponents unearthed evidence Subud’s founder was homophobic, and the group branded a “cult” or “sect”.

After concerns were raised over the bidding process, the council set up a panel to scrutinise the decision in 2014.

During heated public meetings, Subud strenuously denied it was religious, a cult or homophobic.

Then in January 2015, the council affirmed its original decision. Yet a year on, the contracts had still not been exchanged.

Another twist came after a new access road through County Hall had come to light.

Opponents were outraged, as this negated the reasons for refusing the higher offer in the first place.

Meanwhile, an local estate agent put the land value at £2.75 million as the council admitted its own valuation was £1.3 million.

Speaking to The Argus in February, Subud admitted it planned to put a small amount of housing in one corner of the site.

Yesterday, Subud accepted “there should be affordable housing on the site” – but warned a it could feel victim to a “high-end housing development sold to the highest bidder”.

After 10 years of twists and turns, the saga continues, with the council now reviewing the site.