COUNCIL tax bills will rise by more than twice the rate of inflation next month, with even bigger increases predicted for the next two years.

Opposition parties gave warning yesterday that householders faced soaring bills after the general election when homes will be revalued.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pointed out that the average council tax bill had risen above £1,000 for the first time after increases of more than 74 per cent since Labour came to power in 1997.

Ministers countered that the 4.1 per cent average increase was the lowest for ten years, but local government analysts said that average bills would rise by at least 6-7 per cent next year and that individual rises could be up to 30 per cent in 2007-08.

The average bill for two adults in a Band D property will rise by 4.1 per cent from £1,167 to £1,214 next year. The Band D average will be £1,162 in London, £1,234 in the shires and £1,190 in metropolitan areas.

In England, the average bill for all dwellings will be £1,009, up from £967. In London, that figure will be £1,078, in the shires £1,048 and in metropolitan areas £840. Nick Raynsford, the Local Government Minister, appeared to concede the scale of the problem yesterday by announcing plans to cap nine districts planning “excessive” rises of between 10 per cent and 100 per cent.

Local authority leaders were furious when Mr Raynsford gave seven Tory councils and two which are under no overall control but Tory-led 21 days to appeal against capping. They argued that most were low- spenders with a history of good financial management.

The nine are Aylesbury Vale, Daventry, Hambleton, Huntingdonshire Mid Bedfordshire, Runnymede, Sedgmoor, North Dorset and South Cambridgeshire, which has proposed a 100 per cent increase.

Mr Raynsford had made clear that the councils risked being capped if their increases were more than 5 per cent.

South Cambridgeshire immediately said that services could be cut as it would have to reduce spending by 24 per cent. “This is a bad day for common sense and for vital public servi-ces for local residents,” Daphne Spink, its leader, said.

The Local Government Association said that it was bitterly frustrated at the announcement. Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, its chairman, said that government-imposed responsibil-ities, such as licensing and re-cycling, meant that local authorities had a £1.5 billion gap in their budgets.

Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, argued that because of all the one-off “quick fixes” that the Government had announced to defuse council tax as an election issue, it was storing up trouble for the future.

The Chancellor gave local councils an extra £1 billion last December to help to keep rises down and promised £200 refunds for pensioners in the Budget.

“There is a real risk of an escalator effect following this year’s modest increase of 4.1 per cent,” Mr Travers said.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat local government spokesman, said: “Council tax has become an unbearable burden for millions of families.”

Caroline Spelman , the Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “The council tax revaluation is a ticking tax timebomb, primed to explode after the general election.”

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