PAPERWORK covering an entire year of the judicial review process, which ended in a damaging court case, is apparently missing from the Ledbury Town Council offices.

Now fresh costs look set to be incurred by the council, as it begins a post mortem investigation, concerning the recent judicial review between itself and Cllr Liz Harvey.

If the paperwork is not secured, it could hamper the town council's chances of claiming around £200,000 back from insurance, on behalf of the public purse .

The chairman of Ledbury Town Council, Nina Shields said: "This is critical to our decision in how we proceed to try and reclaim at least some of the costs."

The town council lost the judicial review, and it has been widely reported, and unchallenged to date, that the final legal bill the town council must pay for costs, out of the public purse, will indeed be in the region of £200,000.

But now it looks set to be even more, because of important legal paperwork that has apparently gone astray.

This means the council may have to pay out for replacement paperwork concerning the judicial review process for the entire year of 2016, because the paperwork has not been found so far, despite a search.

The chairman of Ledbury Town Council, Cllr Nina Shields said: "We have started to review the paperwork on the judicial review and have found that the files stop at the end of 2015 and start again at the beginning of 2017.

"We have considered possible mis-filing but have not found any other file containing this documentation."

Cllr Shields added: "We had contacted the solicitors Winckworth Sherwood about obtaining copies of the relevant documents. We have received some advice from them during the month and to provide a copy of the relevant files would take our monthly invoice for June 2018 up to £1,100 plus VAT."

But the extra paperwork may not be requested until the final bill for the judicial review is known.

Cllr Shields said: "We do not wish to increase our costs at this stage by insisting on that level of detail in advance of the invoice."

The total cost to the public purse concerning the infighting in Ledbury Town Council in recent years is actually likely to come close to £300,000, taking into consideration expenses such as legal expenses to fight the judicial review, the judicial review costs, Code of Conduct investigation costs and the cost of additional audits.

The town council's annual budget is currently £360,000.

After being accused of bullying staff, which she always denied, and after being sanctioned by the town council, Cllr Harvey launched a High Court challenge and triumphed in a judicial review, brought against the town council after the 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.

Cllr Harvey said this week of the costs being incurred: "I am heartbroken that this situation has come about. So much money, opportunity and time wasted.

"Why wouldn’t the councillors and staff involved pay attention to their responsibilities to the community and to the law?"

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.