Taxpayers could be left counting the cost after Malvern Hills District Council suffered a setback in a long-running legal dispute.

The council is trying to make Claire Crossley comply with an enforcement order dealing with a reedbed drainage system at King's End Cottage, Powick, which she owns.

The order was made in 2001, after complaints from neighbours about bad smells.

In June 2003, a judge at the High Court in London put the enforcement order on hold so a civil action between Mrs Crossley and a neighbour could go ahead.

It was this decision that MHDC was hoping to overturn. But on Monday, High Court judge Mr Justice Collins dismissed the council's request and awarded costs to Mrs Crossley.

The amount of costs is to be the subject of negotiation between Mrs Crossley and MHDC. If no agreement can be reached, the matter will return to court.

The civil dispute between Mrs Crossley and her neighbour, the Hon Robin Wallace, will now be heard on April 18, 2005, at Worcester County Court.

Mrs Crossley said she was delighted by the judge's decision.

"I'm concerned that MHDC continues to waste public money in this civil dispute between two neighbours," she said.

Nicolas Wheatley, MHDC's senior solicitor, said: "We've got the choice of either appealing the decision, which we are considering, or of waiting until this other case goes through in April next year, and then carry on from there.

"We have 14 days to make our minds up about this."