ROSSENDALE Council has been named among the most improved in the country for collecting council tax.

The news comes just a week after the authority was placed 237th from 237 following an audit report.

The council, named as one of the worst authorities for collecting council tax last year, was included among the 20 most improved after raising collection levels from 91.6 per cent to 93.9 per cent.

Neighbouring Hyndburn Council was revealed as one of the worst council tax collectors in the country.

The authority collected just 92.8 per cent of the council tax due during the last financial year - down 0.4 per on the previous year.

This left the authority in the bottom 20 of more than 300 councils in new league tables published by the Department for Local Government and the Regions

Today, the new leader of Hyndburn Council, Labour Coun Ian Ormerod, accused the previous Conservative administration of taking its eye off the ball and vowed to improve the situation.

But he said: "Hyndburn does have a lot of special problems which are not taken into account on this list.

"We have a lot of empty houses and we can't find the owners so we can't claim the tax off them. We are holding meetings with officers to see what we can do about that.

"But we also have a lot of people on benefit who struggle to pay council tax. Our priority is to give them a better standard of living and I won't send people hounding them for money if they come to us and explain their problems. Together, we can work out a solution.

"People should realise paying council tax is not just a voluntary thing. We need it to provide services and everyone loses out if the money is not paid."

In contrast, neighbouring Ribble Valley has been named as one of the 20 highest collection rates authorities.

It was the joint ninth best authority, bringing in 99 per cent of its council tax - although this was down from 99.3per cent.

Blackburn with Darwen Council's collection rates also showed an improvement, rising 0.9 per cent to 94 per cent.

Burnley's collection rate rose 0.5 per cent to 94.5per cent, while Pendle's rose 0.8per cent to 93 per cent.

Nick Raynsford, the local government minister, said: "Overall, an extra £40million has been collected in council taxes.

"However, half a billion pounds was still uncollected last year, and that is a lot of money which could have been spent on local services."