Sandwich Town Council has come under fire after another lease blunder was uncovered in the Sandwich Historical Boatyard saga.

The project, originally set out in 2015, was to build a boat-building workshop to be run by a not-for-profit trust under Bob Martin and Bob Hill.

They were to offer young apprentices experience in traditional boat-building and a beautiful replica medieval boat was to be constructed and moored at the Quay to boost the town’s tourism offering.

Last year, after suspicions were raised when work on the site stalled, Dover District Council finally admitted it had “made a significant mistake” by granting a 50-year lease to a limited company 100% owned by Bob Hill, instead of for the still unconstituted Sandwich Historic Boatyard Trust.

Now it has emerged that Sandwich Town Council has made the same error on a lease for Fishergate - a nearby building required for the boatyard offices.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Monday, Nicholas Gray from Sandwich Boatyard Action Group revealed how, after the town council had refused to show him a copy of the Fishergate lease, he obtained one from the Land Registry for a £7 fee.

He produced it during his right to speak at the meeting and queried why the council was so determined to hide a document which was already in the public domain.

He pointed out to the meeting that the Fishergate lease had in fact been granted before, and for a term starting before, the boatyard lease despite Sandwich Town Council maintaining it was merely following Dover District Council’s lead.

He also claimed to have found another lease for Fishergate issued in March 2015 and asked if this lease had been terminated before the issue on the other on February 10, 2016.

He urged the council to issue a public statement admitting its mistake and apologise publicly.

He also requested that the council sets up an independent inquiry into the affair similar to that set up by Dover District Council and that they take immediate steps to recover possession of Fishergate from Mr Hill’s company.

The Mayor of Sandwich Cllr Paul Graeme said a meeting with Bob Hill is expected to take place today (Wednesday) and proposed that a statement would be made within 21 days when they have looked at the questions that have been raised. This motion was not voted on.

Cllr David Wood believed the council should apologise.

He said: “This has caused a lot of people a lot of stress. It’s time to tell all residents of Sandwich what has happened. I think we should apologise and follow Mr Gray’s proposals.”

But members said they weren’t willing to apologise until they knew who was responsible for the mistake.

The council resolved to investigate this and then follow Cllr Wood’s motion.