SHADOW parish councillors in North Central Swindon have defied a borough council-imposed deadline to set their precept.

Members of the newly formed shadow parish council met at Pinetrees Community Centre on Tuesday.

The meeting was initially supposed to be an opportunity for them to agree how much they would charge residents for local services as part of their council tax bill.

But after it emerged that important information released by Swindon Borough Council may be inaccurate, the councillors decided it would be irresponsible to take decisions with lasting financial implications.

The concern centres around a figure the parish will use to work how much they will receive from the council tax precept.

All houses are split into bands, with the smallest properties being in band A and the most expensive in band H.

Councils decide how much to charge for a household in the centre — band D — and then the amount is adjusted up or down for each house from there.

In order to work out how much to charge to meet their budget, the parish relies on the borough council to provide them with the number of ‘band D equivalents’ in their area. The council then makes its calculations from there.

In the case of North Central, three different figures have been calculated, the most conservative of which gives a number almost 1,000 lower than the top figure.

If the parish were to work off an excessive figure, then it may end up with less money than they need. However, the opposite is not true.

If the borough council, which administers council tax collection, were to raise more money from the area than expected, then through a strange quirk, it is the borough which keeps the surplus and not the parish.

Shadow parish council chairman Des Moffatt told residents on Tuesday that the gap between the figures is such that the parish could miss out on up to £92,000 that could otherwise be used for valuable local services.

A decision was therefore taken to defer the setting of a precept until greater clarity is available.