EXTRA government cash to help reduce next year's council tax rise has been declared inadequate by councillors.

Pendle Council chiefs are writing to government ministers in a bid to gain extra revenue support grants to contribute towards the council tax.

The government's local government finance settlement has been increased by £251,000, rising from £7.89m to £8.14m. This means this year's tax rise will fall from 24 per cent to 19 cent.

Councillors are campaigning against the decision and said the government had not taken into account the fact that census figures showed Pendle had 5,000 more people living in the borough than was previously thought.

Revenues director Tony Morris said the council's key objective was to put the people of Pendle first. He said the borough's share of council tax was 16 per cent, equating to a£130 a year on Band A properties.

Liberal Democrat councillor, David Whipp, said: "The way the government grant is distributed is fundamentally flawed. We have been short changed by government. When we heard about Gordon Brown's extra millions, I thought they were going to deliver what people in Pendle need. Sadly it wasn't long before we knew that we are still losing out to the tune of almost £1.5 million.

"The first thing we need to do is redouble our efforts. I know we have written to the minister and MP. But we need, across all parties, to try to get some fairness into this system.

"At the moment we are at a real and desperate disadvantage. If we can open people's minds enough to see the case we are arguing, the fact that the population of Pendle is 5,000 people more than the government have previously funded us for, then anybody would say that's really unfair."

The decision will be looked at again at tonight's full council meeting, although no decisions will be made until mid-February, when the council hopes the government will change its settlement figures to suit the needs of the borough.