A senior councillor has been cleared of abusing a resident, who branded him an “odious little s***” during a spat on Twitter.

Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest council’s cabinet member for housing, was subject to an investigation following an exchange with resident Melanie Briggs on the social network in July.

The online row was sparked by a Huffington Post blog written by Ms Briggs, which stated redevelopment of the Marlowe Road Estate had been thrown into uncertainty due to Brexit.

Ms Briggs agreed to sell her home on the Walthamstow estate in July this year after moving into the property in 2013.

She said she had become aware in 2014 her home was under threat from compulsory purchase through the planned development.

She claimed following the blog post, Cllr Limbajee: “chose to use social media to attack her and her character personally and, over the ensuing days, he bullied, harassed and defamed her on Twitter”.

A tweet sent by the councillor told Ms Briggs she had bought her house: “knowing it was earmarked for regeneration”.

She told a council officer investigating the incident she believed Cllr Limbajee was accusing her of buying her home in order to “cynically profit” from the compulsory purchases.

However, the probe found in Cllr Limbajee’s favour, stating Ms Briggs gave “abusive responses” to attempts to “engage with her constructively”.

In a stream of tweets sent on July 6, Ms Briggs branded the councillor an “odious little s***” and a “disgusting little man”.

The report said Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy also waded into the row, asking the complainant not to speak to other people in that manner “on or offline”.

Ms Briggs then replied to Ms Creasy, saying: “You are not the boss of me Stella” and referred to the MP in another tweet as “Creaseballs”.

The investigation concluded Cllr Limbajee had been acting in an official capacity during the exchange and had made factual errors in some of his statements.

However, it cleared him of any wrongdoing, saying he had offered to meet Ms Briggs and resolve the situation “despite extreme provocation”.

The report warned councillors to: “reflect carefully before engaging in public spats on Twitter which can unnecessarily escalate as they have done here”.