AN East Lancashire council today praised its taxpayers for helping keep its position near the top of the council tax collection rates.

Just two borough councils in the country ranked above Ribble Valley Borough Council in the new league tables for highest collection rates of council tax.

Most other councils showed improvements, including Blackburn with Darwen, which wrote off some £1million in debt last year, although it remained low down among fellow unitary authorities.

Borough officials collected some 99.3 per cent of rates owing to them in the year ending March 31 2001.

The collection level for domestic rates -- houses -- rose one per cent to 99.3 per cent, while non-domestic rates -- business tax -- rose 0.3 per cent to 99.8 per cent.

Everyone of East Lancashire's boroughs saw collection rate rises in either domestic or non-domestic rates, with the exception of Rossendale, which appears in the country's worst 20 collectors.

Marshal Scott, director of finance at Ribble Valley Council, said: "We are pleased with these figures but not surprised because we put a great deal of effort into collecting the taxes due from the people in our borough.

"But I feel praise is due to the taxpayers here, who nearly all pay on time and make sure they pay what they owe.

"We have always had a high collection rate but it is pleasing to know we are doing so well."

Only neighbouring Craven Borough -- also with 99.3 per cent -- and South Cambridgeshire, on 99.7 per cent, came ahead of Ribble Valley.

But Stephen Byers, the new Secretary of State for Regions, said he would be asking the worst offenders to explain what had gone wrong. Nationally, £11.89billion of a possible £12.41billion was collected, representing an average of 95.8 per cent.

Blackburn with Darwen showed an increase in the amount it collected, gathering 0.3 per cent more domestic tax (93.1 per cent) and 1.0 per cent of non-domestic tax (96.1 per cent) than in 1999/2000.

Council chiefs had to write off more than £1million of unpaid tax for the 1999/2000 period.

When the money was written off in January this year, council bosses pledged to 'use all means possible' to find people who owed them cash but the authority is still among the worst unitary authorities in the country and among the lowest collectors in East Lancashire.

Rossendale, which came 15th out of the 20 worst collectors, managed a collection rate of just 91.6 per cent, recording downturns in both domestic and non-domestic rates of 1.6 per cent, the 14th worst in the country.

Leader John Holt said: "We have made great inroads into this problem, which stems from the previous administration.

"We have put new systems in place and I believe we are well on our way to beat the 95 per cent mark this year."

Pendle showed the eighth biggest increase, collecting an extra 1.8 per cent on the 1999/2000 year.

Mr Byers said: "Half a billion pounds wasn't collected last year, which is money that could have been spent on local services.

"I've looked at the figures and I believe some councils could improve their performance. I will be asking the worst collectors for an explanation.

Ribble Valley: 99.3%, (+1%);Chorley: 96.9% ( -0.9);South Ribble: 96.1% (+0.6); Burnley: 94.0% (+0.8); Hyndburn: 93.2% (-0.4); Blackburn with Darwen: 93.1% (+0.3); Pendle: 92.2% (+2.0); Rossendale: 91.6% (-1.6).

Non domestic rates: Ribble Valley: 98.8% (+0.3); Burnley: 98.2% (+4.3); South Ribble: 97.4% (+1.2); Hyndburn: 97.3% (+1.5); Blackburn: 96.1% (+1.0); Rossendale: 94.2% (-0.9); Chorley: 93.8% (-1.8); Pendle: 93.0% (+3.7).