INDIVIDUAL town councillors could be asked to pay from their own pocket for Ledbury's huge legal bills.

This comes as Ledbury Town Council revealed it has forwarded a dossier to legal council this week, to see what might be done about the fees.

The town council has revealed it is considering legal action against some serving and former town councillors in a bid to claw back some or all of the £220,000 already paid out from reserves, after the council lost a judicial review.

Town council chairman Councillor Nina Shields said: "Over the last few years certain advisory bodies, former councillors and councillors mismanaged affairs badly, incurring bills in excess of £200,000 in the process. This has blown a major hole in the public purse.

"We have asked for an opinion as to whether there is a civil or criminal liability on the part of the individuals or organisations concerned and if so, what are the realistic chances of the council of recovering any of this money. The council will be forwarding its findings to legal council this week."

Meanwhile, as the row rumbles on about the level of legal costs being paid out from the public purse, the council has revealed it has refused repeated offers from its own solicitors to see if fees could be reduced.

The Reporter understands that the solicitors, Winckworth Sherwood, contacted the town council several times to see if the £96,261.66 being claimed in legal costs by Cllr Liz Harvey might be negotiated down through contact with Cllr Harvey's solicitors.

Cllr Harvey was awarded costs after winning the judicial review she brought against the town council; but no specific figure was set by the court, apart from a £30,000 interim payment.

Cllr Shields said the approaches from Winckworth Sherwood to negotiate had been turned down.

She said: "Our solicitors offered to try to negotiate the sum charged by Cllr Harvey’s solicitor. This offer came with no guarantee that there would be any reduction in Cllr Harvey's costs. On the other hand, the council would have to commit to significant but undefined costs to pay for such negotiation.

"We decided to take the prudent course.’’

Meanwhile, debate is still raging about what the final figure for the legal payouts should be.

Speaking this week, former town councillor Bob Barnes, who was a member of the town's judicial review working party, provided his own analysis.

He said: "Using the council's own recorded accounts, from their website, the costs, so far, are actually significantly less: Ledbury Town Council costs of £92,147.95 and Councillor Harvey costs of £25,000, a total of £117,147.95, exclusive of VAT. Even inclusive of VAT the total cost is, only, £140,576.94. So where has the extra come from?"

The town council is adamant it's own figures are accurate and a meeting next week could be key in making the council's case .

Cllr Shields added: "At our full council meeting on December 6, I am going to propose that we make public all minutes of meetings where this issue was discussed in closed session since the beginning of this sorry tale in 2016.

"This will enable the public to see for themselves just how this debacle came about."

The Reporter understands that former members of the town's judicial review working party have already received emails warning of possible legal action.

Mr Barnes told the Reporter, in response: "I, and my other council colleagues, only acted in the best interests of the council, as advised by the council’s legal advisors."

Cllr Harvey took the town council to judicial review after being sanctioned following accusations she bullied staff. She was cleared of the allegations.

She strongly denied the claims and was found not to be in breach of the Code of Conduct by a Herefordshire Council investigation.

The judicial review considered that the town council should have taken this ruling into account and it acted beyond its powers in sanctioning Cllr Harvey.