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Press release

21 March 2007
For immediate release
Contact: Johann Tasker
(07967 634971)

GOVERNMENT MUST END
RURAL TAX INEQUALITY

A COALITION of rural local authorities serving 8.4 million people has called for the government to end the unfairness of high rural council taxes.

The call was made by the Sparsity Partnership of Local Authorities Delivering Rural Services (SPARSE), which represents 85 local authorities, following publication of the Lyons Review of local government finance.

Rural taxpayers in remote areas can pay up to 90% more for some services than their urban counterparts, reveals research conducted by SPARSE.

Graham Biggs, chief officer of SPARSE and its sister body the Rural Services Partnership, said:

“We have proven over the years that the present system of funding local government results in rural people paying more in council tax and receiving less by way of services.

“This is an inequity which needs to be stopped. The Lyons report gives Ministers the opportunity to do just that.

“The fact that countryside councils get less per capita in government grants than their urban counterparts means the burden of higher council tax bills falls hardest on those communities.

"This is compounded by the fact that the higher cost of providing services in rural areas limits the level of provision to council taxpayers in the countryside.

"Adjusting council tax banding won't necessarily help either.

“Time and again, the Government has said that people should not be disadvantaged because of where they live.

“We urge the Treasury to use the Lyons Review as a springboard to prove that this applies to the millions of rural dwellers living across England.”

Notes for Editors:

1. SPARSE and the Rural Services Partnership are the two operating arms of the Rural Services Network, a group of more than 250 organisations working together to improve the delivery of rural services across England. Further information is available at www.rsnonline.org.uk.

2. Further information about SPARSE is available at www.sparse.gov.uk.

ENDS.