COUNCIL tax bills could rise by as much as 20 per cent when the revaluation of properties takes place the leader of Bolton Council warned.

Liberal Democrat boss Cllr Barbara Ronson fears many elderly people and families could find themselves in a financial trap as a result of many homes being pushed into higher bands because of the housing market boom.

Her comments came as a new assessment of every home in England to calculate new council tax payments got underway. The result of the re-evaluation will be announced in September.

The last check was carried out in 1991 when the average house price was £73,000. It is now more than £190,000.

Promises have been made by the Government that the revaluation will not increase the amount of money raised through council tax and that only properties where the value has risen by more than the average would be moved into a higher bracket.

But Cllr Ronson fears that many homes will still be hit, particularly in areas where property values have particularly soared such as Horwich, Lostock and Farnworth. She said: "It is dreadfully unfair and many families are extremely concerned that they are going to be hit with huge bills simply for living in homes they may have been in for years.

"People are angry and I think we are going to see more protests.

"In an ideal world we would like to see the council tax scrapped altogether and replaced with a local income tax."

In Wales, a similar project saw around 40 per cent of homes more to higher tax brackets.

Of the 113,000 homes in Bolton, 58,760 or 53 per cent are in the lowest A band. Just over 16 per cent are in band B, 14.8 per cent are in band C, 8.4 per cent are in band D, 4.3 per cent are in band E, 1.7 per cent are in band F, 1.5 per cent are in band G and just 225 homes are in the highest H band.

A spokesman for the council said: "Since 1991, a lot of homes have gone up significantly in value but the key issue is whether yours has gone up more than the average.

"The official evaluation could be somewhat different to what estate agents now say a home is worth."