A COUNCIL heavily criticised in a Government report for its lack of political leadership is to vote on whether to appoint a council leader next week.

Teesdale District Council was given a rating of "poor" in a Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) report released yesterday by the Audit Commission.

As well as its lack of political leadership, the report said the council needed to consult the public more, and had not significantly improved key services such as housing or benefits.

It was criticised for not delivering a long-term vision or strategy to improve environmental issues.

The report did praise strengths in a number of services, such as planning and leisure.

Chief executive Charles Anderson said: "Despite these acknowledged strengths, the report criticises some of the processes and procedures within the council, in particular what they regard as weak political leadership and lack of capacity, which relates to the small number of people employed and the low levels of finance available to the council."

The authority has no clear majority political party, and the CPA says its ability to improve is dependent on the willingness of councillors to concentrate on giving clear leadership.

At the council's annual meeting on Wednesday, councillors will vote on whether they should appoint a new leader. The council traditionally did not have a leader until last May, when independent councillor Phil Hughes was voted into the post.

He resigned four months later, citing a lack of power and claiming there was no role for him.

Councillor Ken Robinson, the leader of the authority's Labour group and chairman of the corporate strategy group, said the council was working to address the political leadership issue by streamlining the council committee system and giving more power to the corporate strategy group.

Coun Robinson said: "Until such a time as there is a suitable majority, a leader would not be sustainable."

Coun Hughes believes the work he tried to implement during his time as leader was the same as the recommendations made by he Audit Commission.

He said: "Had we taken these steps last year we could have had a very different CPA reports.

"As it is, we are a year behind. The same people doing the same processes and expecting different outcomes is the first definition of insanity."