THE Countryside Agency has denied accusing Thursley Parish Council of being lazy and inactive, claiming that research it has carried out has been wrongly interpreted for political means.
Last week MP Virginia Bottomley strongly criticised the agency for "secretly labelling and rubbishing" Waverley's parish councils.
Mrs Bottomley claimed that all parish councils were graded into performance categories of either "vibrant", "active", "barely active" or "sleeping" and that it was part of the government's attempts to abolish parish councils completely.
Thursley was identified as a "barely active" parish council.
However, a spokesperson for the Countryside Agency, Nigel Ellway, has accused Mrs Bottomley of "not doing her homework" and deliberately misinterpreting the information to undermine the government.
"This has all been a misunderstanding. There has been a survey looking at the vibrancy of rural communities and what they have to offer residents, but at no point was was the performance of parish town councils being tested. The categories refer to the actual community rather than the parish council."
He continued: "The national press has got hold of the information and wrongly reported that it was a measure of the parish council's effectiveness, which it is not.
"The findings have been based on information collected from the parish clerks but it is really looking at the quality of life in the community and the number of facilities available to residents."
Indications of vibrancy on which the communities were judged included the presence of a village hall and pubs, fetes, fairs and clubs and activities.
It also referred to the number of opportunities for members of a community to contribute to community activities.
A parish is described as "sleeping" if there is felt to be a shortage of local events or lack of community activities
The news has come as some relief to Nicola Bates, acting chairman of Thursley Parish Council, who described the comments in the last weeks report as a "total insult" and stressed the hardworking nature of the council and the influential role it plays in the community.
However, she remains annoyed that Thursley itself is considered dull, and explained that a number of facilities have had to close down over the years including a number of pubs, village stores and the post office because of high rents and rates.
Mrs Bates added: "Thursley entered the Surrey Village of the Year and came out very well. It is still a complete insult to be labelled in this way when the community is actually very dynamic.
"We have a number of societies including the history, horticultural, and over 60s groups and the church is extremely active. At the moment we are fighting to retain the village's remaining pub, The Three Horseshoes, which the owner wanted to turn into a dwelling.
"There are a number of community events and I am annoyed that we have been labelled this way without us even knowing about it. We will be contacting the Countryside Agency for an explanation."