SEDGEFIELD Borough Council has been criticised in a report which has given its housing maintenance service a zero rating.

The independent Audit Commission report says the service is 'poor and has uncertain prospects for improvement.'

The report says the no stars rating was made because the service fails to have a customer focus, access to all aspects are limited, and information is lacking about the level of service customers can expect.

In adds that poor working practices and inadequate IT systems reduce the service's ability to provide a good-quality, value-for-money service.

Roy Irwin, chief inspector of housing, said: "The council has now begun work on a new improvement plan which recognises the weaknesses of the current service and is realistic in its short and medium term goals.

"If all the actions in the improvement plan are achieved this will deliver significant improvements to customers.

"However, the plan still needs to gain the approval and support of councillors, staff, tenants and all partners and stakeholders.

"In addition, we found the service to be very poor and so the level of change required to move the service to a 'fair' rating is substantial."

Inspectors found many weaknesses in the service, including the high level of emergency repairs, the sub-standard gas servicing policy and the poor cleanliness of empty properties.

Inspectors said there were some positive aspects, including a useful tenants' guide to housing repairs, polite and courteous staff and the speed at which high priority adaptations are completed.

A spokesman for the council said: "Although we feel our properties are in a relatively good condition it is clear that our responsive maintenance service is not providing the standard that is expected.

"We have reviewed and updated our service improvement plan to provide a more comprehensive and robust set of actions in which we can take the service forward, to make steady progress and ensure we are continually improving over the five years of the plan."

He added: "We are confident the service improvement plan will be delivered, will ensure continuous improvement in the service and upon next inspection will positively move up in the ratings."