COUNCIL tax payers in the most rural parts of the country are paying over the odds, according to a report published this week.

A coalition of more than 50 of England's most rural local authorities including Cumbria County Council is to pass the findings to the Government's independent inquiry into the council tax system, which was launched earlier this year.

The report has been produced by the lobby group SPARSE (the Sparsity Partnership for Authorities delivering Rural Services), to which North Yorkshire County Council and Eden and Craven District Councils also belong.

SPARSE concludes that: l Council tax levels are higher in the most rural parts of the country than they are across the rest of England and the gap is wider this year than it was two years ago.

l Spending per head on local services is, despite this, lower in SPARSE areas than across England as a whole.

l Spending in SPARSE's member areas is 90 per cent of the English average, while council taxes are two to three per cent above average.

l Council spending per head in inner London is 40 per cent above average, while council taxes are 82 to 86 per cent of the average.

SPARSE is calling on the Government to close the widening council tax gap between city areas and the countryside, and to end the "urban bias".

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins said the report showed conclusively that people in South Lakeland were paying too much for local services.

"This is not because of decisions taken by our local councils, or because of the council tax system. It is purely and simply because of a massive redistribution of money from rural to urban areas since 1997.

"To put it bluntly, residents in South Cumbria are being milked to subsidise city dwellers. It's time this unfairness was put to an end."

The MP said he would be using the report to press local government ministers to reverse the "skewed funding formula", which he said would reverse most of the council tax rises of recent years.