A former council leader has resigned for the third time in little more than a year.

James Page resigned from Lewes District Council in protest at a decision to hand responsibility for council gardens and cemeteries to a private company.

In the past 13 months, he has stood down as council leader and resigned from the Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats.

In a parting shot, Mr Page described the council’s leadership as “idiotic” and “twisted”.

But the council’s leadership said the £580,000 contract is good value for residents.

Mr Page quit the council on Tuesday with immediate effect over outsourcing the upkeep of Lewes’s Grange Gardens, Seaford’s Crouch Gardens and two cemeteries, a contract which will begin in April and run for five years.

Mr Page’s role as a councillor for Telscombe Cliffs will remain unfilled, with less than six months to go before elections.

In his resignation note, he stated: “The current political leadership is out of control and I cannot be part of a council led by such idiotic twisted people.

“The outsourcing deal is the final nail in the coffin for me.

“I cannot be part of a council that takes such shockingly bad decisions as the one taken yesterday by the ruling Tories.”

The Lib Dems claimed the ruling Tory group chose to outsource to a private company for “dogmatic reasons” and that an in-house service would have saved taxpayers cash.

Lib Dem leader councillor Sarah Osborne said her party was sorry to see Mr Page go. She said he always did what he thought was best for local people.

Council leader Rob Blackman thanked Mr Page for his service but found his decision “difficult to understand”.

He added: “The tendering process is a good news story as we have achieved very significant savings for our residents.

“The winning contractor is highly regarded and will help us to make further savings to our contract monitoring costs, potentially outstripping the estimated difference.”