HEREFORDSHIRE Council’s investigation into bullying claims at Ledbury Town Council remains shrouded in secrecy.

Despite a Freedom of Information request, voters are being given only the scantest details about the so-called code of conduct inquiry, and the dispute could end up being settled by Judicial Review.

If this happens and the town council ends up having to pay the costs, up to £140,000 of council tax payers' money could be eaten up.

And one of the councillors accused of bullying, Cllr Liz Harvey, warned that legal action might be "immanent", unless the town council lifts a ruling which means that she and Cllr Andrew Harrison cannot speak or vote at town committee meetings.

Cllr Harvey also seeks acknowledgement that the accusations of bullying were "unsubstantiated".

She said she might release information she has, but this would be "subject to any delays that may be necessary relating to immanent legal action and possible police investigations".

Concerning the costs of legal action, she said: "A Judicial Review is an expensive business and should the council be found to have acted unlawfully or beyond its powers, all legal expenses for both parties are likely to be awarded against it. This is likely to use up the majority of the town council’s unallocated reserves, since the legal costs to both sides of such a review might be expected to top £140,000."

The Ledbury Reporter submitted the FO1 request to try to clarify the continuing confusion about the bullying claims surrounding councillors Cllrs Harvey and Harrison.

There have been two separate investigations, each with starkly different findings, which have led to confusion about whether the councillors have been cleared or not.

The Reporter asked how comprehensive were the investigations, and Herefordshire Council replied: "Herefordshire Council does not hold any recorded information which details whether the investigations were sufficiently comprehensive or whether they were cursory."

However, Herefordshire Council revealed that the investigations took one year and 19 days to complete.

Mystery still remains as to whether or not town council staff, who complained of bullying, were actually interviewed face to face.

Herefordshire Council said that details of how the investigation was conducted and "whether anyone was interviewed" was in the external investigators' reports, and this information remains confidential.

The Reporter asked whether or not investigations, in fact, had been cut short; and Herefordshire Council said there were actually two investigation reports, one interim report and a one final, and on the basis of those findings, "no further investigation was carried out."

The Reporter requested sight of the evidence seen by the Monitoring Officer, including emails, but this was refused on grounds of confidentiality.

But Herefordshire Council added: "The outcome of the report was that there had been no breach of the Code of Conduct, and therefore the public interest in unsubstantiated complaints is diminished."

Cllr Liz Harvey, responding to the outcome of the FOI request said: " The clerks’ complaints against Cllr Harrison and me ran to well over 200 pages.

She added: "I would say that this indicates a significant amount of time and effort has been devoted to independently investigating the staff and other complaints made against us by councillors and closely linked members of the public."

Cllr Harrison said: "I am pleased that an independent investigation lasting over a year was able to review the same information presented to the internal Ledbury Town Council committee and find the complaints against both me and Cllr Harvey unsubstantiated."

The town council was also asked to comment but had not replied by the time of going to press.