SIX hundred people have signed a petition calling for better public funding in Worcestershire - with a county MP insisting residents are paying an unfair “rural penalty”.

Conservative Peter Luff, who represents Mid-Worcestershire, says he wants to send a “clear message to the Government” that his constituents deserve better.

Local government minister Eric Pickles is due to outline town hall funding for the 2014/15 financial year next month, and has warned that more cuts are on the way.

Wychavon District Council, the biggest public sector organisation in his constituency, is already drawing up plans to slash around £4m from spending by 2018 to prepare for the worst.

Mr Luff has presented his petition in the House of Commons, saying areas like his “suffer a basic underfunding” compared to urban parts of the country.

He said: “Rural areas suffer underfunding for basic services.

“There is an ongoing fight to close the gap between the funding given to rural and urban communities.

“At the moment councils in rural areas are allocated less money to pay for the costs of services, although often they are more expensive.

“I and other MPs that represent rural constituencies want to see this unfairness addressed.”

The petition’s names were collected after a major rearguard effort from councillors across the Mid-Worcestershire constituency.

It says some of the best funded urban areas get an extra 50 per cent per head compared to rural ones, despite some services being more expensive to provide in the latter.

It calls for the so-called “rural penalty” to reduce by at least 10 per cent, even if it has to take place in phased steps between now and 2020.

Mr Luff added: “I hope this petition will show the Government that rural people believe something must be done to address the gap.”

Mr Pickles has long criticised councils for wasting money, calling for them to reign in spending and reduce staffing.

Only this week he backed a series of ideas from the Taxpayers Alliance for saving cash, including bizarrely using cows and sheep to mow council land.

The alliance also wants to freeze recruitment, end automatic pay rises for staff and reward council tenants for carrying out their own repairs.

Mr Pickles said: “There is significant scope for town halls to save taxpayers’ money, helping keep council tax down and protect frontline services.

“Councils which complain about so-called cuts need to read through this report and justify their spending to local taxpayers.”

The petition’s 600 names have been added to nearly 17,000 from other parts of the country, in a national co-ordinated effort from rural constituencies.