THE OFFICIAL bill for investigations linked to Ledbury Town Council's arguments and infighting is already far more than the £10,000 spent by the town council.

A local man, who has asked not to be named, recently used a Freedom of Information Request to find out how much Herefordshire Council spent to investigate Code of Conduct complaints regarding Ledbury town councillors.

Herefordshire Council, in response to his enquiry said: "The total cost of the external investigation in connection with complaints received concerning Ledbury Town Council is £16,800, inclusive of VAT."

With Ledbury Town Council revealing it spent £10,000 last year in legal fees associated with the ongoing bullying row, this gives a combined figure so far of £26,800 from the public purse - almost nine times more, for example, than the Herefordshire Council contribution towards Ledbury's lengthsman scheme in 2015/2016, for the cutting of grass verges and the clearing of drains.

But if the town council chooses to fight a Judicial Review, over an investigation which found two town councillors guilty of bullying staff, and if the town council loses that battle in court, it could face additional costs of around £140,000.

Cllr Liz Harvey and Cllr Andrew Harrison were found guilty by the town council, under employment law, of bullying staff.

But the Herefordshire Council Code of Conduct investigation did not find the two councillors in breach of the code at all, which covers how councillors must treat others.

In fact, no Ledbury Town Councillor has been found guilty of being in breach of the Code of Conduct, following the Herefordshire Council investigations.

It was announced at a recent full town council meeting that 39 separate complaints had been investigated, and no breach had been found.

Complaints against ten Ledbury town councillors were investigated.