Councils in the North are putting pressure on the Government to give its rural residents a better deal.

Several district and borough councils, including Scarborough, Ryedale, Craven, Richmondshire, Alnwick, Teesdale, Tynedale and Eden, together with North Yorkshire and Northumberland County Councils, are members of the influential group of 55 of England's most rural local authorities.

Graham Biggs, a spokes-man for Sparsity Partnership for Authorities Delivering Rural Services (Sparse), which has just published its manifesto, said: "Our research shows that rural dwellers pay more in council tax for fewer services."

He said affordable housing in rural areas such as Ryedale, North Yorkshire, was a major issue.

"The planning system can help if there are sufficient overall housing allocation numbers to meet needs," he said. "However, Government financial support is needed to achieve this."

Sparse is calling for the suspension of the Right to Buy of local authority and housing association rented homes in areas where the problem is the greatest.

Mr Biggs said research by Sparse showed that rural areas got a "raw deal" on council tax.

The gap on council tax levels is wider now than it was two years ago between urban and rural areas, he said.

He added: "Huge sums of money are being taken from country areas to urban and metropolitan areas.

"We shall be making representations against this unfair and unjustified shift in resources needed to fund services to some of the most needy in our society."