TWO former council leaders have claimed that ending a major housing project could cost the taxpayer £15 million.

Former Lewes District Council leaders James Page and Rob Blackman have slammed proposals to pull the plug on the New Homes project they had both played a key role in bringing forward.

The council’s cabinet will discuss a proposal on Wednesday to end the so-called 49 sites project amid claims it is no longer financially viable because of covenants restricting development on two Seaford sites.

Lewes District Council estimates it would need to borrow around £8 million to build affordable housing now that capital receipts would be significantly reduced.

But Mr Page and cllr Blackman have dismissed fears that covenants on the Buckle car park and Normansel Park Avenue would have prevented their development or caused the whole district-wide project to fail.

They have accused the current council leadership of “political cowardice” and crumbling to the demands of “noisy NIMBYs” rather than sticking with a scheme beneficial to the “silent majority”.

The pair estimate that as well as the £570,000 in preliminary costs, the council is set to lose around £3 million in Homes and Communities Agency grants.

They also calculate wasted council officer time to total hundreds of thousands of pounds on top of legal fees and the possible threat of paying out up to £10 million in damages.

Mr Page, who stepped down as leader in 2014, said the council was aware of historic covenants throughout the project and he was confident they could have been lifted by land tribunal given the need for housing.

The Telscombe Cliffs-based businessman said if the covenant remained, the Buckle car park could still support up to a dozen £1 million plus homes.

He added: “This tragic demonstration of political cowardice will come at a grave cost to the 95,000 residents of the district.

“This politically expedient u-turn has potentially cost the council somewhere in the region of £15 million and what do we get from it? Nothing.”

The pair said all councillors had agreed to “tough” the project out in the face of public opposition and said it was the role of the planning process and not councillors “with one eye on the next election” to decide appropriate levels of development.

Cllr Blackman, who resigned as leader in September, said: “Leaders have to take difficult decisions and sometimes push against the tide.

“It’s about doing the right thing for the whole district and not about trying to not lose the 30 votes of people living around a site.

“Building houses is the moral thing to do.”

Current council leader Andy Smith said: “The termination of this scheme based on legal advice that all partners will meet their costs and there will be no grounds for legal challenge and claim for compensation.”

FORMER LEADERS CRITICISE COUNCIL OVER HOUSING PROJECT

FORMER leaders James Page and Rob Blackman have warned Lewes District Council will blacken its name with developers if they pull out of the New Homes project.

The pair said the local authority’s treatment of project partner Karis Developments would irrevocably damage their reputation and prospects of working with developers in the future.

Mr Page also criticised the council’s determination to continue with plans to develop one of their sites, in Newhaven, which is set to become available for development next year.

He said: “If they go ahead with Robinson Road on the back of all the efforts done in good faith by Karis, Southern Housing Group and Conran and Partners then that is dishonest and will completely break apart the partnership.

“It’s completely disreputable to use the intellectual property (IP) and will ensure that the next time someone enters into a partnership with the council, they will ensure their IP is very well tied up which will all add to the costs.”

The pair also questioned current council leader Andy Smith’s expected decision to back the pulling of the project.

Cllr Blackman said Cllr Smith had backed the project from day one in his then role as deputy leader and finance lead.

The Seaford West councillor said: “Every single decision required financial approval, everything would have passed by his door.

“Nobody within our group was vociferous in their opposition to this at all.”

But Cllr Smith said that key details about the scheme had been deemed commercially sensitive and kept secret from cabinet members.

He said: “I’m not criticising Cllr Blackman, you can only deal with the information you have at the time, and The information I have at this time is that it is not financially viable.”