A COUNCIL has claimed that it has been unfairly criticised in an independent report on its £527,858 refuse collection service.

The Audit Commission gave Teesdale District Council's refuse collection and vehicle management teams only one star because, it said, although most people were satisfied, only four per cent of waste is recycled and refuse collection is expensive compared with other local authorities.

A report published yesterday also angered councillors and officers by claiming that the service, which employs 19 full time staff, had poor prospects for improvement.

Pat Thynne, commissioning inspector, said: "The council has not consulted with local people about how to improve services and its improvement plan does not include clear targets or focus on the needs of customers."

Although the service had some strengths, it had many shortcomings including a lack of service standards, not enough emphasis on reducing waste and too many vehicles in its fleet to be cost effective.

But the council said it had consulted more than 400 residents and was committed to expensive new measures before the inspectors' visit.

Councillor Newton Wood, chairman of the social and environmental committee, said: "It seems strange that a service which in a recent independent poll was rated as very good by 87 per cent of the population can only be judged as 'fair'.

"Furthermore, we are spending £600,000 in introducing a wheel bin system of refuse collection and kerbside uplift of recyclable materials, so it is a bit unfair in the inspectorate to suggest that we do not have plans to move forward."

A Teesdale resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I think they provide a very good service. I cannot understand how the inspectors, who I understand were only here for a couple of days, can profess to know more about it than the residents who have lived her for many years."