IT has no water, electric, toilets or bins and doesn't generate any income - but this modest bird hide may be the only one in Britain to pay business rates.

The charity running the hide has been paying the rates for years but only realised it may well be unique after its rateable value shot up from £1,250 to an eye-watering £12,650.

The Valuation Office Agency, which sets the rates, admitted a mistake. It explained it had put a decimal point in the wrong place during its calculations and the bill for the hide at Nosterfield, near Bedale, was in fact £125 for next year.

But by this time an alarmed Lower Ure Conservation Trust had contacted other such groups operating bird hides to ask how much their business rates were - only to be told they didn’t pay them.

“We now believe we are the only bird hide in the country that pays business rates," said Simon Warwick, director of the Lower Ure Conservation Trust.

"As a charity we get a reduction, but it still means we would be facing a bill of around £125 next year. To us that is a lot of money, we have a donations bucket, but that is for things for the hide not to pay for non existent services we don’t get."

The rates are collected by Hambleton District Council, which has already been criticised over its plans to levy business rates on new community libraries which are being taken over by volunteers following North Yorkshire County Council's budget cuts.

Mr Warwick added: “We don't event get rubbish collected, we did have to install a (dog) poo bin at the council’s request and pay £350 for that, but that isn’t something that helps us. The whole thing is nonsensical.

“What also seems appalling is that if we were a small business with a rateable value below £6,000 we would automatically have 100 per cent relief, but we are not, we are a charity."

The bird hide is free to use and generates no commercial income.

Hambleton District Council said that the rates are set by the Valuation Agency Office, although Hambleton gives an 80 per cent reduction as it is a charity, with a further five per cent discretionary reduction.

The Valuation Agency Office said:"We cannot comment on individual cases. We have been encouraging ratepayers to click, find and review their draft rateable values and raise concerns directly with us so we can amend if needed.

"We make the draft rateable values available six months before bills are calculated, to enable ratepayers to do this the values and a bill estimator are available at www.gov.uk/voa/revaluation."