PICTON residents have voted to withhold payment of a £158 parish council auditing fee, for a small report they believe took ten minutes to inspect.

They want the money to be retained by the parish council, until a different fee is negotiated.

The accounts for a period ending in March 2001 were inspected by District Audit in Leeds, and Picton Parish Council recently received a £158 bill for the work.

This week, residents and council members said the amount was far too high. Paying it would leave the village with just over £1 in its account, they claimed. They said the parish council was tiny and had little expenditure; the fee was an insult to its prudence and they resented the large fee.

Picton has a parish clerk, Carole Ackrill, and one councillor, Linda Mottram, who acts both as chairman and financial officer. Resident George Knowles is an internal auditor.

Coun Mottram said it took 15 minutes to prepare the accounts and Mr Knowles ten minutes to check them.

"This is a rather extortionate bill. It would leave us with a bit more than £1 to spend on ourselves.

"I take exception to this. There were five items in our account. When I queried this vast overcharge, the District Audit said it took five hours. How they get five hours, I don't know," Coun Mottram said.

"The District Audit say they wrote letters, made telephone calls and had to see people. But our expenses were all recorded and were minimal."

The parish had saved for many years and some of its modest reserves came from the jubilee. She had complained to the auditors, William Hague MP, and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Referring to Mr Prescott's famous scuffle, one man quipped: "Will the Deputy Prime Minister come up and punch someone?"

But Hambleton Coun Ian Grieve, of Potto, said: "This is the worst case I've ever come across. Lots of people are complaining. This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen. The more publicity it gets, the better. It's an absolute nonsense.

"There are five lines in the accounts book - did that require five hours of work? It's outrageous and I don't think you should accept it."

There were gasps among residents when he said moves were afoot to waive auditing fees for councils which spend less than £100,000.

Despite astonishment at the fee, there were a few other jokes. Speaking of the £1, one man said: "I hope we don't waste it."