The legal battle between a former council managing director and her employer is set to return to the High Court. Christine Laird, the former head of Cheltenham BC, has been given leave to appeal against the costs awarded against her, despite winning the case brought against her by her former employer. The council had sued her in a £1m court case, claiming she had lied about her health when applying for the job. But this was rejected by the High Court earlier this year. Auditors are currently probing why the council decided to launch the high-risk action, which would have had little chance of recovering costs, even if it had been successful. Mrs Laird has been allowed to appeal against the court's decision for the council to pay 65% of her costs, leaving a bill of around £190,000. In a statement, her husband said: ‘This is just one more step on a long road to recovery for Christine. ‘We will also be awaiting the outcome of the full auditor's inquiry into why Cheltenham BC saw fit to squander such a huge amount of taxpayers' money.'