A MASSIVE blunder by Bradford Council's elections unit sent Ilkley Parish Council into a spin this week and left the town with less money for local community projects than it should have.

Red-faced officials at City Hall have been left to investigate why the population of Ilkley parish apparently increased by 5,000 people in a few weeks.

Anxious parish councillors trying to get their new precept figures right were told on Monday that the calculations they had made were hopelessly wrong.

They wanted to base the precept on a figure of £3.50 per head of population. However, at the end of last year Bradford Council told the parish council that the population of Ilkley Parish was just over 15,000 people.

But in January this year, Bradford's electoral unit told another organisation, the York-based Yorkshire Local Councils Association (YLCA) that the population of Ilkley parish was around 20,000.

When parish councillors learned about this they contacted the electoral unit at City Hall to confirm the figures they had been given originally. On Monday this week Parish Clerk Miggy Bailey was informed that the figure was 20,000, not the 15,000 they had been told.

This meant that all the calculations made for the precept were wrong, leaving the total fund around £15,000 short.

At a meeting on Monday night, Parish Council chairman Michael Gibbons vented his frustration that the figures had been miscalculated based on the wrong information supplied by Bradford Council. He said: "I find it absolutely deplorable. I am not sure where this leaves us. It is something we will have to take up with the electoral officer."

Instead of having nearly £100,000 to spend on projects in Ilkley, parish councillors have been left with just under £82,000.

The blunder came to light when parish councillors were asked to approve a large rise in the cost of the subscription to the YLCA. This charity provides various services used by parish councils all over the county.

But a change in the way it charges for its services has recently been introduced, based on the number of electors in the area.

The change resulted in Ilkley's yearly subscription bill going up from £578 to £966-a-year. At first, parish councillors were reluctant to pay the bill because they thought the population figures it was based on were wrong.

But on Monday, Bradford's electoral services dropped the bombshell by confirming that the parish population was more than 20,000 and the YLCA subscription calculation was correct.

Although parish councillors have laid the blame on Bradford Council the blunder has left red faces all around.

Coun Gibbons said: "We feel quite awkward about it given that this is our first year. One or two people would be quite happy we have been misled."

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "We are very sorry for any confusion about the Ilkley population figures which are categorised in different ways.

"According to the 1991 Census, which is the latest Census data available, the total population of the Ilkley District Council Ward is 13,490. The Ilkley Parish Ward, which covers a larger area including Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston, has 20,050 eligible voters."