SKY-HIGH water bills issued to churches and sports clubs are “wrong”, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has said – raising hopes of a Uturn.

Mr Benn attacked water companies for imposing “very, very large increases in bills in a very short period of time” and pledged he was “keeping this under close review”.

The comments follow growing protests – beginning with a petition drawn up in the North-East – at what has been dubbed a “rain tax”.

However, Mr Benn stopped short of supporting a backbench Bill, to be debated next month, that would exempt “places of worship, non-profit making sports clubs, Scout groups and Guide associations”

from higher charges.

Mike Hall, a Labour backbencher, will bring forward the legislation on May 12, but it has no chance of becoming law without government support.

The “rain tax”, which charges organisations according to the size of the land they occupy, rather than rateable value, triggered a 45,000- signature petition handed in at No 10 this month.

Churchwarden David Boddy launched the protest on the Downing Street website after St Luke’s Church, in North Thornaby, near Stockton, saw its charges soar from £70 a year to £700.

Some larger churches have complained of seeing their bills rise from £140 to £8,000 – and cathedrals are now paying £71,000, instead of £5,000.

Meanwhile, the Scouts Association has estimated the total drain “from the pockets of children into the pockets of water companies” to be about £1.5m annually.

Questioned by The Northern Echo, Mr Benn said: “I am very concerned about what’s happening. There is clearly something wrong with bills increasing like that.

“In some cases, it may have been that the calculation of the surface area was not properly done. For example, if there is a sports field, you should not charge for that because it drains naturally.”

Asked if he would support Mr Hall’s bill, Mr Benn said: “We are keeping this under close review.”

Mr Boddy, 29, a teacher at Yarm School, near Stockton, has called for an exemption, instead of treating churches “like Tesco, even though we can’t put up our prices”.

The petition was launched after Martin Dales, from York, took the issue to the Church of England’s General Synod and started the website DontDrainUs.org