EXTRA scrutiny of Ledbury Town Council's finances has been called "completely unwarranted" - after they were signed off by an external auditor.

Around £2,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on asking outside auditors to take a second look at the books for the last financial year, after a request from Councillor Liz Harvey.

But the assessor's verdict has already led to disagreement within the authority, with Cllr Harvey defending her tactic and saying she has governance concerns.

The auditor signed off the finances but did make some recommendations to the council over governance issues, including reminding them to allow a 14 consecutive-day 'announcement period' before voters could examine the books.

During a town council meeting last week, councillors said they felt the £2,000 should have been spent on better projects like playground equipment.

Cllr Annette Crowe, speaking after the meeting said: "That money could have been spent on kids' play equipment or anything else for the town.

"This is taxpayers' money, and a hell of lot of money when we are trying to keep the precept down and provide things which are needed by the people of Ledbury."

Other councillors said the town clerk Karen Mitchell had been "vindicated" by the auditor's findings.

Cllr Keith Francis, chairman of the finance and general purposes committee, said the auditor had given the council "a clean bill of health" and signed it off.

"So no problem there," said Cllr Francis.

Cllr Annette Crowe proposed a vote of thanks for Mrs Mitchell and said: "She has been vindicated, after being challenged by Cllr Harvey.

"The internal and external auditor has confirmed that this council is run correctly."

Cllr Martin Eager said: "The clerk has been under intense stress, and to have this hanging over her was totally unwarranted."

But after the meeting Cllr Harvey said the council was in "a terrible mess" and claimed they were "ignorant" of the report.

"I am pleased that Grant Thornton share the governance concerns that I raised," she said.

The auditor said the council needs to produce an updated risk assessment, which had not been done for the 2015/16 year.

The auditor also said it was not fully assured over compliance with the code of conduct, due to a current investigation by Herefordshire Council, but none of the matters raised changed the signing off.