Many residents have found a cheque in their letterbox or a boost to their bank account this week as the £50 refund on council tax is delivered.

The town hall's cash back scheme began last Friday as about £6m began being divided up among 122,000 tax paying households.

The money came with a discount booklet including offers which can also be found on the council's Spend Local website. Everyone eligible should receive their share by Tuesday (December 1), also the date the local authority drops its charges for all the car parks it runs in the borough at weekends.

It is all part of the Spend Local campaign which hopes residents will stay in the borough to do their Christmas shopping.

Council leader Jason Stacey said: "There's £6m being transferred from the council into residents' pockets. Even if we could get half of that pumped back into the local economy over the next four to five weeks it will make a massive difference to a lot of shops and protect jobs.

"Most retailers say anything from 40 to 50 per cent of their yearly income comes from the Christmas period.

"A good Christmas period may mean the difference between them being able to trade for the whole of next year or going out of business."

Visit www.spendlocal.org.uk to find out more about offers in the borough.