INSPECTORS have given the thumbs-up to leisure services in Derwentside.

The service is good, with promising prospects for improvement, according to a report from the Audit Commission published this week.

In a previous report, published in September 2001, the service was given a one-star rating of fair, but unlikely to improve.

Officers at Derwentside Leisure have spent the last 18 months in a drive to prove the inspectors wrong and their efforts have been rewarded with the announcement that the service has won a two-star rating.

The report praises the £700,000 refurbishment of the Empire Theatre in Consett and the conversion of Stanley Civic Hall into the Lamplight Arts Centre.

Audit Commission managing inspector Sarah Diggle said: "Derwentside council has made good progress in improving its leisure service over the last 18 months.

"It has improved the overall quality of its facilities and the conversion of the Stanley Civic Hall into the Lamplight Theatre - a multi-purpose arts venue - has been a great success.

"Since our first inspection, there has been a major change in the service and councillors and staff are now making a real effort to deliver better leisure services for local people."

The report commends Derwentside on several counts, including making swimming, public parks and children's play areas a priority. But it highlights weaknesses in the service, such as the closure of many play areas due to the poor and unsafe state of the equipment.

It criticises the lack of a skate park and an all-weather, floodlit sports pitch, such as the award-winning site that is privately operated by the community association in Delves Lane, near Consett.

It also urges the council to more actively promote its services to young people and ethnic minorities.

Head of leisure services, Steve Howell, said: "The first inspection report detailed a number of weak areas, which we've faced head-on and overcome, over the last 18 months. We do, of course, recognise there are still some areas needing attention."