Councils in Kent and Medway wrote off more than £3 million in unpaid council tax last year, according to figures released by the Government.

The highest amount forfeited was in Thanet, where £870,000 of council tax went unpaid, followed by Gravesham where £743,000 was uncollected.

Between them, the 12 district and borough councils, including Medway, gave up chasing debts of £3.71million, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Thanet said the figure quoted was wrong and related to historic debts. A council spokeswoman said that in 2006-2007, £123,000 of council tax had been unpaid.

In a statement, Cllr Martin Wise, Thanet council finance spokseman, said: "We appreciate this is still a significant amount of money but we have procedures in place to ensure debts are only written off as a last resort and after every avenue open to collect them has been explored.

"The vast majority is a result of council tax payers absconding and we have been unable to trace them. This is a particular problem in Thanet due to the high transience of our population."

Ashford had the best record in chasing council tax. It wrote off just £4,000 in unpaid council in 2006-2007.

How your council faredThe figures for written off council tax for 2006-2007 are: Ashford: £4,000; Canterbury: £183,000; Dartford: £410,000; Dover: £71,000; Gravesham: £743,000; Maidstone: £148,000; Medway: £278,000; Sevenoaks: £270,000; Shepway: ,£145,000; Swale: £414,000; Thanet: £870,000; Tonbridge and Malling: £84,000; Tunbridge Wells: £93,000.