BY the end of this week, Ledbury council taxpayers will have a better idea of how much the bickering and legal battles among town councillors will have cost the public purse.

The chairman of Ledbury Town Council, Cllr Nina Shields, was scheduled to give an update at yesterday's (June 21) full town council meeting in the Community Hall, but it will not be comprehensive.

Cllr Shields said: "The costs are not yet finalised and so at the moment it is not possible to say with any degree of accuracy what the total will be."

But Cllr Shields added: "Without a doubt the town has a right to know this information. I am working towards this and at the full council meeting I will be giving as much of an update as I can. All I can say is that we are making progress."

Independent investigations by the Ledbury Reporter put the figure in excess of £272,000: a sum which is around seventy five per cent of the town council's current annual budget of £360,000.

And when Code of Conduct fees are added, the overall total climbs to more than £298,000.

The figures assumes that the widely quoted and so far unchallenged figure of £200,000, for legal costs following the judicial review is correct, although the judge is yet to formally award costs against the town council. The figure also incorporates a sum of £64,309, which was given at the annual town meeting of April 26, for legal charges accrued by the town council.

At the time, this figure was described as "18 per cent of the precept".

An independent study of the council's legal expenses, carried out by the Reporter, puts this figure slightly lower, at £58,020, although the online town council statistics for major expenses are unlikely to be comprehensive, because they currently stop at January 2018.

A contact close to the town council, who does not wish to be named, pointed out that these legal expenses, accrued prior to the judicial review, had already been paid and "therefore the budget will not be depleted in one hit".

The overall sum of £272,000 plus also incorporates the cost of audit challenges, launched by Cllr Liz Harvey, and given by the contact close to the town council as " approximately £1500, for 2016/17, and £6500 for 2017/18".

It was reported, following a town council meeting in April 2017, that a number of councillors called the extra, external scrutiny of town council finances "completely unwarranted" after the books for 2016/17 were signed off.

An enquiry to the town council offices failed to establish the outcome of the more recent extra, external scrutiny.

The sum of £272,000 does not incorporate the cost of Code of Conduct investigations, carried out by Herefordshire Council, into the behaviour of a number of Ledbury town councillors.

This particular figure, of £16,800, also represents another hit to the public purse - but the tab, in this case, was picked up by the county council, not the town council.

A Code of Conduct enquiry to establish the figure of "£16,800, inclusive of VAT" was successful for a member of the public in August 2017, and then reported.

The Reporter understands that ten town councillors were investigated and none were found to be in breach of the Code, including Cllr Liz Harvey, who reported herself after being accused by fellow town councillors of bullying staff: an accusation she always denied.

Cllr Harvey launched a High Court challenge and triumphed in a judicial review, brought against the town council after sanctions were imposed and extended.

The town council had banned her for two years from sitting on any of the town council's committees or other panels.

Following the judicial review in April, the judge ruled that the town council had acted beyond its powers.

Cllr Harvey had been given no proper opportunity to respond to the accusations and the decision was also "substantively unfair".

The Code of Conduct investigation, carried out by Herefordshire Council, ruled that Cllr Harvey had not been in breach of the Code, which governs how councillors must treat others, and that includes bullying.

The judge said that Ledbury Town Council should have taken this into consideration.

The costs to be awarded against the town council are expected to be in the region of £200,000, although this is still to confirmed.

Cllr Harvey said: "The costs were all avoidable. The councillors responsible were all given numerous opportunities to address the mismanagement and malpractice behind all these issues."

It is possible, but not certain, that the town council will be able to claim back the costs through insurance from the Herefordshire Association of Local Councils and the National Association of Local Councils, which give indemnified advice.