EDEN District Council is one of the best councils in the country when it comes to collecting council tax, according to new statistics.

The Government has just published the collection results for 2013-2014 and it shows Eden collected 98.8 per cent of the amount due.

This placed it 16th in the national league table out of over 320 councils.

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The Tory-controlled council also has the highest collection rate of any council in Cumbria.

David Rawsthorn, Eden’s director of finance, said: “This is a tremendous result and is a tribute to our hard working staff and the tax payers of Eden. We will collect almost all of the unpaid amount in thisyear.”

Councillor Kevin Beaty, the council’s resources portfolio holder, said: “By ensuring we collect as much council tax as possible, we help to keep the level of tax down.

"Every pound not collected is paid for by those who do pay. This again shows that we are a careful custodian of the public’s money. I am also very pleased that at a time when collection rates are declining across the country, Eden’s collection has improved.”

And South Lakeland District Council is also one of the best performing councils too.

Statistics released on July 3 show that the collection rate nationally throughout 2013/2014 was 97 pper cent - down by 0.4% on 2012/13 figures.

However, the collection rate in South Lakeland increased from 98.6 per cent to 98.7 per cent - placing SLDC in 29th place nationally.

SLDC’s revenues and benefits manager, Alan Raven, said: “We are delighted with the collection figures and congratulate our colleagues at Eden on their collection figure beating us by just 0.1%.

"We share Revenues and Benefits Managers with Eden DC and the two authorities work very closely together.’’