CENSUS dodgers have cost Southampton more than £35m in the past nine years, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The lost millions could have paid for a “pristine new road network for the city”, rebuilt two secondary schools or eight primary schools, and pumped extra cash into elderly care and social work, according to council sources.

Council leaders have now launched a campaign to urge all residents to fill out next years’ census forms to make sure Southampton isn’t short changed out of more Government funding.

In 2001, the response rate was just 89 per cent.

Council finance bosses reckon a similar return in 2011 would cost the city up to £68m over the next decade and threaten vital services.

Most of the rest of Hampshire had a response rate above 97 per cent – well above the 94 per cent average for England and Wales.

Census area manager Matt Dean said the more forms that are filled in the more money local authorities were likely to receive in funding.

“Southampton would have been a very different place if it had received a higher level of funding from the Government following the last census,” he said.

At least 25,645 people did not fill in the 2001 census in Southampton.

Next year the council is targeting the 16,000 people that live in shared houses, where most of the residents do not fill in census forms.

The council knows of 2,000 so-called Houses of Multiple Occupation in Southampton but suspects that there are many more.

Other reasons for Southampton’s low response rate include residents who move frequently, high numbers of immigrants and ethnic communities which can be harder to reach.

Every completed census return is worth at least £432 per person for Southampton.

The campaign comes as the council’s preparing to make savings of up to £50m over the next three years in the face of swingeing Government funding cuts to the council of 26 per cent over the next four years.

Council leader Royston Smith said: “It is a travesty that Southampton continues to miss out on the money it is entitled to. If we could achieve a higher census return rate in 2011, it is possible that we could make up a big chunk of the council deficit over the next three years.

“That would mean we could protect the services our residents rely on so heavily rather than having to reduce or cut them.”