BRADFORD Council should look at how London collects taxes from overseas property owners if it wants to boost its Council Tax collection rates, according to one Councillor.

A new report has revealed that over one fifth of tax went uncollected in the City Ward in the last year.

At a meeting of the Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday evening, members were told that one of the main reason for the low collection rates in this ward, which includes most of the city centre, was due to “transience.”

The committee heard that around 25 per cent of Council Tax payers in this area lived in there on a temporary basis, often in small flats, making it difficult for Council officers to chase up unpaid debts.

And many of the apartments in the city centre were owned by people living overseas, making it difficult to collect tax on empty flats.

In total there was almost £12 million in Council Tax that went unpaid in the 2017/18 financial year.

The City Ward accounted for £1.38 million of this total.

Martin Stubbs assistant director for revenue and. benefits, told Thursday’s meeting: “It is more difficult to keep up with people who move regularly. In some cases you are trying to collect unpaid tax from the owners of flats, who might be living in the Far East.”

Expressing how important it was to make sure they collected as much tax as possible, he said: “Why should people who pay their tax subsidise those that don’t?”

He said the Council was working with Wakefield Council, which has impressive Council Tax collection rates, to improve rates in Bradford.

He also told members the Council was using new ways to look at data to determine how best to deal with different demographics in the city, and said the issue of transience was the first issue being looked at.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said: “Maybe we need to look at something in the planning process to ensure we get council tax from overseas owners of buildings in Bradford. We are still providing services like street lights outside their properties. They shouldn’t get away without paying their tax.

“I expect the city of London might be the place to look if we want to see the best way to chase payments from overseas property owners.”

In recent years the Council Tax collection rate in the district has hovered around 92 per cent. Last year it was 94.2 per cent.

However, the annual report into collection says that eventually 98.5 per cent of Council Tax debt is collected, although it sometimes takes a number of years.