South Lanarkshire Council’s legal department has admitted it spent almost £600,000 in the case against Errington Cheese and it is thought the final bill will exceed £1 million as it will have to compensate the company.

Eric Holford, a councillor, said: “The cost to the council of fighting this case will easily pass a million, and if it’s £2 million I shouldn’t be surprised.

“It’s a huge amount. We put up the council tax this year by 3p, and that would raise £3.8 million. We could easily be spending half of that on this case. That seems to me a nonsense.”