Westminster plans to shake the collection tin at its wealthiest residents again, after 350 residents responded to its plea for voluntary contributions in lieu of increased council tax.

The scheme has raised £342,000 for services including helping rough sleepers, after the council launched its voluntary supplement to council taxes this February.

The idea, aimed at residents of Westminster's 15,600 highest value properties, drew widespread attention.

They were asked to pay double their council tax voluntarily as a contribution toward the council's community services.

Nickie Aiken hopes more people will now sign up to the voluntary additional contributions

This week Islington Council's leadership revealed it is looking at mimicking the idea too.

Westminster Council boasts among the lowest council tax rates in the UK.

Those called on for the extra contribution live in the 15,600 properties rated as council tax Band H, meaning they were valued at more than £320,000 in 1991.

Conservative council leader Cllr Nickie Aiken said it was just the beginning of the pilot and she believes it was a success.

She said: “That is money we would not have had without the community contribution and it will help young people, rough sleepers, and also help tackle isolation and loneliness.”

The council is not allowed to raise council taxes for just the wealthiest residents. By law, it would have to lift them across the board.

In this year's council tax round, residents in Band H properties will pay £833, excluding the Greater London Authority top-up.

“Through the community contribution we have asked only those who can genuinely afford to make a greater contribution to do so," Cllr Aiken said. "The positive response so far is a credit to the generous spirit of Westminster residents."

The council's Labour opposition leader Cllr Adam Hug said his party shared in Cllr Aiken’s reticence to raise council tax "which would hit all families rather than just those with most to give".

However, he blamed cuts to local authority funding for the need to introduce such a scheme.

He said: "The money raised by the scheme is helpful to support important causes but is dwarfed by the continuing scale of council cuts, around £38 million this year due to the Conservative Government’s austerity programme.

Adam Hug says that far more has been cut than has been gained through the voluntary overpayments

"I hope the council will keep its promise to use the findings of this voluntary scheme to make the case to the Government for reform of the system to make it fairer."

Cllr Hug said it was impossible to be able to tell so early in the scheme's tenure whether it would attract more contributions in the latest round of council tax payments, being collected now.

He said: "At this stage it is impossible to tell whether greater awareness of the voluntary contribution in its second year of operation will outweigh the loss of contributions by residents who saw the payment as a one-off gesture."

Money raised through the scheme was earmarked for helping young people by investing in youth clubs, extra support for Westminster's rough sleepers, and help tackling isolation and loneliness.