Willingdon and Jevington chairman John Pritchett has claimed that the financial reserves of the council had been used by the previous council to fund operating expenditure.

But councillor Andy Watkins, who ran the parish council's finances throughout the last council, said he was disappointed to see that the current council chairman 'seeks to blame the previous council for anything when expenditure had been properly controlled and the reserves were left in the best ever shape'.

Cllr Watkins added that residents have approached him and said they were alarmed to hear the current councillors responsible for finance said that they did not understand the figures in front of them and some finance councillors have been criticised for not undertaking training.

He added, "I understand the public's concerns even more when I hear that the parish council allowed just a few councillors on the finance committee to set the council tax level for this year.

"This parish council must be quite unique in setting a tax on their residents without even meeting."

Former chairman Tony Seabrook has described Cllr Pritchett's claims as 'rubbish'.

Tony Seabrook said, "Cllr Pritchett seeks to justify a near 30 per cent increase in council tax but his claims say more about the current councillors' control and understanding of the finances than anything that has happened over the previous four years.

"Cllr Pritchett knows full well that during three of the previous four years there was a surplus and the reserves rose substantially during that period to £170,000 at the time of the last election.

"All of this had been clearly earmarked for specific projects as part of the longer term planning of the council.

"The reserves certainly had never been raided to pay for any expenditure and at all times the finances were handled in an excellent manner as confirmed by the award of Quality Parish Status and by the reports from both Internal and external auditors."