Read the Audit Commission Local Government National Report February 2008 in full

Despite growing political pressure for greener services, town hall performance on environmental areas has fallen in the past 12 months, the local government watchdog reveals today.

The Audit Commission’s annual performance league tables show that councils are improving overall, with 83 per cent of them achieving three of four stars. The top performers are again in London and the North East and Tory councils among the highest achievers. Bracknell Forest and Camden head the table but prominent Tory authorities, including Westminster, Wandsworth, and Kensington and Chelsea still make the top 15.

In general those that did well last year have done even better and those doing less well have stuck at the same level with one or two stars. Hackney and Lambeth, accustomed to languishing near the bottom, are exceptions, both making their way into the top category for the first time. Liverpool, the worst performer overall, has fallen from two stars to one, largely owing to its dire finances. Standards on refuse, recycling, clean parks and streets have droppped slightly overall across England and one in six councils has scored worse than last year.

Commission officials denied that the drop was linked to the introduction of alternate weekly refuse collections, fiercely opposed by the public, but said that it could be linked to the growing tonnes of waste put out by householders. London councils, faring well across most services, showed worse environment scores than other areas, probably owing to the problems associated with high-density housing.

Public satisfaction is not included in the commission’s assessments and recycling levels across the country have increased from 27 per cent to 31 per cent between 2005-06 and 2006-07, which should boost scores. Commission officials said that the amount of household rubbish being collected was increasing, putting pressure on services and finances. “While they are recycling more, they are also collecting and disposing of more waste overall,” a spokesman said.

Paul Bettison, the Local Government Association’s environment chief, pointed out that 81 per cent of councils still achieved the top two scores on environment, only percentage points lower than last year. He admitted, however, that councils were being asked to do a lot more to address climate change, including insulating all council buildings and increasing recycling services. “Britain is the dustbin of Europe and some of us have left it too long before addressing the issue,” he said. “We are now achieving much higher recycling rates but with huge cost pressures and no extra money.”

John Healey, the Local Government Minister, said that councils needed to look for further improvements and he announced that next year information on waste and better working would be included with council tax bills, so that people could see what was happening in terms of efficiency savings.

Overall the survey was good news for most of the 149 English councils covered by the tables, which achieved high scores in most of the services inspected. The Comprehensive Performance Assessments cover county councils and single-tier authorities including metropolitan, unitary and London boroughs, but not districts.

Town halls are graded on a four-star system for past performance and on future prospects rated from “not improving adequately” to “improving strongly”. The tables rely on assessments by the Audit Commission and those by Ofsted, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate.

High achievers this year include Lambeth and Hackney, now both on three stars and in the top “improving strongly category”. Lambeth has jumped two stars and Hackney one.

The Conservatives, who hold the most town halls, fare the best. Of the 22 councils improving strongly 11 are Tory, 6 Labour, 2 Lib Dem, 1 Con/Lib alliance and 1 Independent.

Michael O’Higgins, the chairman of the Audit Commission, said that most councils were performing better than ever. “Where there are challenges, we know the characteristics they need to copy from the highest performers: strong leadership, a skilled management team willing to take tough decisions and an ongoing focus on poorly performing services,” he said.

David Shakespeare, chairman of the Local Government Association’s improvement board, said: “Councils are already the most efficient part of the public sector, making efficiency savings of £100 million a month, and these figures show that town halls are continuing to improve.” MPs have backed government moves to abolish the five councils in Wiltshire and replace them with an all-purpose authority. The districts of Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire will be swept away along with the top-tier county council.

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