COUNCILLORS in the Ribble Valley have agreed to write off more than £100,000 in unpaid community charge and council tax.

The council's policy and finance committee heard that the outstanding amounts could now not be recovered "without considerable time and effort."

Finance director Marshall Scott said the community charge had brought with it "a substantial rise in the level of arrears compared with the former rating system".

He told the meeting other authorities were also experiencing difficulties: "While the position has improved considerably with the introduction of council tax, the provision for bad debts has increased significantly in all local authorities.

"We now have a number of cases where all recovery action has been explored and the debtor has either disappeared or been declared bankrupt and efforts to recover the outstanding amounts have failed."

Councillors agreed to write off community charge arrears of £81,350.62 and unpaid council tax of £20,755.44.

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