A COUNCILLOR has handed over £20,000 to prove she is not refusing to pay up in a planning battle she lost.

Jo Hayes, a Lib Dem councillor for Colchester Council’s Castle ward, fought a two-year legal battle to stop an 85-bed hotel being built in St Peter’s Street, Colchester.

She took the case all the way to the Court of Appeal, but a judge ruled the Premier Inn could be built.

Colchester Council said Mrs Hayes should foot the bill for the hearings and other costs.

Barrister Mrs Hayes was so incensed at claims she owed as much as £20,000 that she walked into the Town Hall and handed over that amount.

But Mrs Hayes said the bill will not come close to £20,000, so the council effectively owes her money.

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