RURAL residents spend 25% more on fuel for their daily commute to work, claim countryside campaigners.

People in rural local authorities paid £17.17 more last month for fuel to commute than people living in urban areas, said the Countryside Alliance.

Another rise in fuel duty would threaten the viability of rural businesses and communities, it warned, urging the government to postpone any planned increase.

People living in rural local authority areas paid £69.28 a month on fuel for their commute compared to £52.11 spent by people in urban local authorities, said the alliance.

The top 10 local authorities for the cheapest monthly fuel costs are all classed as urban, with residents of the City of London and Aberdeen paying less than £30 a month in fuel costs.

By contrast, 9 out of the 10 local authorities that have the most expensive monthly fuel costs are classed as rural, the alliance said.

Rural residents in the Western Isles (Scotland), Ceredigion (Wales) and Maldon (Essex) were paying the most in fuel costs based on the average distance to work, it said.

Alliance chief executive Barney White-Spunner said: "Quite simply, people living in rural areas need their car to get to work and access basic services.

"Therefore if there is a rise in petrol prices the burden weighs far heavier on rural people, for whom cars are a necessity due to the long commutes and lack of public transport options."

The average cost of fuel for the monthly commute for people living in rural authorities rose by 3% cent from November 2011 to October 2012, said the alliance.

Petrol prices would increase another 2% unless a planned 3p increase in fuel duty was postponed.

Without a postponement in the fuel duty increase, petrol prices would have risen by 11% over the two years from January 2011 to January 2013 – well above inflation.

The alliance said it calculated figures for the average length of the monthly commute using census data which records the average distance to work for each local authority.

All calculations for the amount of fuel needed for the monthly commute were based on the fuel consumption of a Ford 1.8 Mondeo Mistral; which is 36.2mpg.

Petrol price data published by the Department for Energy and Climate Change was then used to calculate the total fuel cost for the commute to work.

Local authorities are classified as 'urban' or 'rural' using Office for National Statistic definition for English Local Authorities; National Statistics definition for Welsh Local Authorities; and Scottish Government definitions for Scottish Local Authorities.