A town that was once one of the country's dirtiest has been named as one of the cleanest in England.

The Government's Audit Commission inspectors gave Stockton Borough Council's cleaning services a maximum three stars.

This compares with the last inspection 18 months ago when the audit inspectors gave the service only one star.

A spokesman for the Audit Commission said Stockton was the first council in England to win an excellent rating.

The report said the service was easy to contact, bin collection was reliable, there were a lot of recycling activities and the council reused 95 per cent of the rubbish it collected - the highest percentage in the country.

The commission's senior manager, Matthew Gladstone, said: "Two years ago the borough was labelled one of the dirtiest in England, now it is one of the cleanest.

"Street cleaning and waste collection services may seem unglamorous, but they have a huge impact on people's quality of life."

The estimated cost of the waste management services for 2003 to 2004 is £7.4m. The services are provided by a combination of in-house provision by the Direct Services division of Service Stockton, private sector contractors and partners.