A BLUNDER by a district council will see residents in two villages get council tax rebates this month.

Householders in Whaddon and Bassingbourn will receive credits on their bill this month following the error by South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The average band D home in Whaddon will get £5.88 back, while Bassingbourn householders are owed £5.31.

Cllr Simon Edwards, the district council’s cabinet member for finance, apologised for the mistake, which occurred because Ministry of Defence properties were not included in the calculation used to the council tax base level.

He said: “I’m very sorry for this error as we are normally spot on with our calculations.

“On this occasion we made a simple mistake which has affected only those parishes with properties in them owned by the Ministry of Defence. I believe that if you make a mistake the most important thing is to admit it and put it right as quickly as possible which we have done.

“We send out over 62,000 council tax bills each year and take great pride in being recognised as one of the top performing councils in the country in this area.

“This year saw an unprecedented number of changes to national legislation relating to how council tax is set, many of these very late in the day, which made the task harder than ever for our dedicated team of officers.”

Another village in the district, Waterbeach, was also affected.

Residents who pay by direct debit will see the credit on their payments from yesterday, May 8, or May 23. Those who pay by other methods have also received the rebate.