THERE is a new controversy over public sites being handed over in Lewes.

We still don’t really know what happened with the so-called 49 Sites and why the scheme is falling by the wayside with a cost to the public purse of more than half a million pounds.

But nevertheless people have joined us to talk about their backing for an audit to look into exactly what has gone on with the project and publish its findings about why it has fallen apart.

We support that.

We are being told that lessons will be learned learnt but we need to know how £570,000 was spent getting years down the line on a project that by all accounts was not going to work.

If a covenant was missed on two car parks which now renders the scheme dead, then we need to know how this happened.

Along with this, we have a religious group which has been given a prime piece of Lewes land behind the town hall.

The Subud group has about 140 members and wants to turn the site into an international headquarters.

It’s mystifying that this group has been given the use of such an important site.

We hear the old school site is being retained for the community but it seems there would be quite a limited group gaining from this.

An estate agent is saying the county council should maximise the sale profits of the site for the sake of the taxpayer.

This is the county council as opposed to the district council involved in the 49 Sites. But nevertheless, here are two issues which would appear to be planning bungles.