IT was with a degree of disbelief that I read the front page article (D&S Times, Mar 25) regarding the increase in parish precept charges imposed by Richmond District Council (RDC).

Richmond Town Council was informed that its clerk had been “inadvertently” missed off the circulation list for the meeting held on October 2015 to explain to town and parish clerks the changes RDC proposed to make to the tax base (which is how local councils calculate their precept requirements for the coming financial year).

An identical “administrative error”, as it was described to us at Middleham Town Council, resulted in our clerk being omitted from the list, so like Richmond Town Council we set our precept at zero increase and were only made aware of the increase imposed upon us when residents complained once their council tax bills arrived.

When we queried the increase we were given the same tale of “administrative errors” and “omissions”.

It begs the question, how many more councils were omitted from the list?

Why, following the supposed meeting, were the proposed changes not confirmed in writing to all council clerks and their chairpersons to ensure that everyone was aware of the proposal?

Sian Moore, RDC corporate director, wrote an extremely patronising letter to us kindly explaining that she appreciated that it was “a complex calculation”. May I respectfully point out to her that it is a calculation we are all very capable of making if we have all the facts conveyed to us.

The complexity only arrives when important information is not communicated to us.

It is not lost on us all that our council tax bills now appear to show that RDC has kept its council tax at the same level as last year, but this omits the fact that it has only done so by unilaterally imposing a three per cent increase onto parishes. And all for what – to save £15,000?

Hardly a significant amount considering RDCs total budget but a much larger proportion of a town or parish council’s modest precept.

This matter raises very serious questions at a time when district, town and parish councils should be working together to minimize the impact of Government cuts.

RDC’s failure of process and wilful lack of proper communication with at least two councils is a matter which we at Middleham Town Council intend to pursue vigorously.

If we are not satisfied with the response from RDC we will take the issue to the Ombudsman.

Cllr Tammi Tolhurst, chairman, Middleham Town Council