The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) has revealed that payments made to offset carbon emission are far higher than necessary.

The report estimates that people in the borough pay out £52.6m-a-year in environmental charges.

Environment expert Richard Tol claims the cost of the borough's carbon emissions is £3.6m.

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) say the cost is £24.5m.

If correct, the figure would mean that people in the borough are paying excess green taxes to the Government to the tune of £325 for every man, woman and child, or £710 for each of the borough's 68,977 households.

The total amount of tax paid was calculated from the amount of fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, landfill taxes and renewable obligations paid by people in each local authority area to the Government.

Matthew Sinclair, a policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance and expert in green taxation, said: "Green taxes are set far higher than is necessary to pay for our carbon footprint, which loads an unfair burden on to hard-pressed British families and businesses.

"With the credit crunch squeezing household budgets, people can ill-afford this extra tax grab. It's dishonest and unjust for politicians to wrap revenue-raising tax hikes in a green banner.

"The Government are talking about raising taxes even further, but our conclusions show that green taxes should be kept as they are or cut."

Just five local authority areas are thought to be paying the correct amount of environmental taxes or less.

The report says that figures on the UK's carbon footprint indicate British taxpayers pay £19.6bn a year more than is necessary, while even the Government's own estimates indicate that people are paying £7.9bn too much, according to the TPA.

Detailed analysis of the green taxes and carbon emissions of the population of each local council area across the country highlights a wide variation between different areas, particularly between urban and rural areas.

In 2007-08, the total burden of green taxes and charges nationally, after deducting road spending, was £24.2bn, up from £22.7bn in 2006-07.

Taking an estimate of the costs of greenhouse gas emissions, the social cost of Britain's entire output of greenhouse gases was £4.6bn in 2007, meaning Britain pays £19.6bn too much in green taxes, or £783.34 too much per household.

However, a Treasury spokesperson said: "The estimate of green taxes is wrong as it includes taxes used to fund core public services, rather than simply offsetting the cost of CO2.

"For example, while fuel duty recognises the environmental costs of driving, it also pays for important public services, including new roads and public transport and efforts to tackle child poverty."