VILLAGERS in Dunster are facing a David and Goliath battle with a water company after winter bills for the supply to a number of community amenities increased in the worst case a staggering 24-fold. The cost of water for the parish council-owned allotments and cemetery from September to March - when the demand is negligible - was £617 this year, representing an average 2,400 per cent increase on the previous two years' bills of just under £6 and £32. At the same time, Dunster's village gardens, which are run by a charitable trust, suffered a similarly inexplicable increase with a £534 bill - 15 times above the £35 demand for the winter of 2005. Incredulous parish councillors say the massive hike in their bill is ridiculous but Wessex Water insists the water - which is metered - has been used and has sent out a final demand, warning of legal proceedings if it is not paid. Council chairman Kevin Sully said: "Everything has been checked, nothing has been left on and Wessex Water has said there is no leak so we just cannot understand it. "The whole thing is ridiculous - there is no way that we have used that much more water this winter than last year. "Even the summer bill was only £148. I feel very bitter about this - we are being ripped off. "This supply is only for the allotments and cemetery and in the winter hardly any water is used. "We queried whether there was a leak and whether the meter was working properly, we just can't understand it. "If a tap had been left running someone would have seen it because the water would have been running down the path." Cllr Sully said the council could not afford to settle the bill immediately as it had not budgeted for such a huge sum. "We're going to have to set up a payment plan with Wessex Water and pay off so much a month." The bill for the same period last year finally came in at £5.63 after councillors queried the initial demand for £139. No explanation for the reduction was given but the council had pointed out that the previous year's bill had only been £32. Carol Ell, chairman of the Dunster Village Gardens Trust, said the organisation simply did not have the money to pay the amount Wessex Water said it owed. "We're a charity, which is run entirely by volunteers. The water company has said we can pay off the bill at £54 a month but we haven't got the money to even do that." Mrs Ell said that like the parish council, the village gardens' water supply was on a meter but the taps were locked, with only a specific number of keyholders. "The only explanation we have come up with so far is that it could be connected to two massive leaks that occurred at the bottom of West Street and further down towards the Foresters pub last year. "We are just wondering if there could have been some sort of surge on our supply, and possibly the parish council's." The quest to find an explanation for the increases and the fight to get the bills reduced has now been taken up by West Somerset Council's Dunster representative Cllr Bryan Leaker. "I shall be raising this with Wessex Water because there is just no logical reason for these increases," he said. "It doesn't make sense. If the council has to pay this bill then it will amount to a substantial increase in the village tax, which will affect all Council Taxpayers in Dunster. "I believe Wessex Water is just hiding behind bureaucracy and someone needs to accept that it just doesn't add up." A Wessex Water spokesman admitted that the increases were unusually high, even taking the annual increase in charges into account. In relation to the council's bill he said: "We identified there was an issue as soon as the meter reading was taken in March. "We sent out someone to investigate the site but there was no evidence of a leak." The spokesman said the meter had been checked to ensure it was working correctly and the council was asked to carry out tests to make doubly sure there was no leak. "During the fortnight that these checks were carried out the meter did not move. "Under these circumstances we have to assume that this water has been used." The spokesman said Wessex Water was continuing to talk to the council and the experience served as a reminder for customers on a metered water supply to check their meter readings regularly to ensure that when bills arrived they were not larger than expected.