COUNCIL tax bills could top more than £3,000 in North Yorkshire, local MP Anne McIntosh has claimed.

She said bills across her Vale of York constituency could rocket, following new legislation from the Government to change the way properties are valued.

But a government spokeswoman said there will be no changes until 2007 at the earliest, and it is too early to know what those changes would be.

Under the Local Government Act 2003 the Government has new powers to change council tax banding to bring in higher and lower bands at each end of the current scale.

Miss McIntosh has warned of the possible impact.

"The Labour Government, supported by the Liberal Democrats, is planning to increase council taxes on higher-valued homes by changing the banding of council tax," she said.

"Someone in a Band H home in Harrogate could see their council tax bill go through the roof, reaching up to £3,057 a year.

"Whitehall will snatch back the extra revenue, so local services will not benefit in any way."

Hambleton District Council revenue manager Ray Gill said there had been discussion of possible introduction of new bands.

"It has been talked about to have extreme bands, but no one knows anything concrete.

"There have been talks of a high band for very high-value homes like mansions, and then a lower value for caravans to spread it out more," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Local Government Office said: "The Act does contain a provision which enables us to increase the bands. This isn't to get more money overall, but to ensure it is as fair as possible.

"The current bands are based on property values from 1991, so there will be a revaluation in 2005 which will come into force in 2007.

"But it is far too soon to speculate what the impact might be."

Updated: 11:19 Monday, September 29, 2003