Shepway least improved District Council in the Country say the Audit Commission

The Annual Audit and Inspection Letter from the Audit Commission has said that Shepway Council is ranked 388 out of 388 district authorities for the percentage of performance indicators that improved between 2006/07 and 2007/08. In addition service quality was well below the average for all district councils, with only 15 per cent of performance indicators in the best 25 per cent of performance nationally.

The March 2009 report (available at http://tinyurl.com/cghbsy) was presented to the Shepway Cabinet presented of 15 April 2009. The reports also says that resident satisfaction with the Council is declining, saying:

"Overall resident satisfaction with the Council was last measured in 2006/07 and showed a slight deterioration since the previous national survey was completed in 2003/04. Comparative ranking with other councils remained the same at below average."

Lib Dem Councillor Tim Prater commented:

"This is a damning indictment of the actual improvement that the Council has made under the Conservatives - simply the least improved District Council in the entire country. There may be plans, ideas, policies, frameworks, strategies and partnerships, but the report seems clear that they are just not delivering improved services.

"Shepway's Conservatives will try to wiggle out of this any way they can, but lets be clear - in 2006/07 they ran the Council and had been for almost two years. In 2007/08 they still ran the Council. This report is a report on the Conservatives record of delivery on Shepway Council, and the result could hardly be worse.

"Someone should actually take responsibility - but I'll bet they don't, and they will simply complain that it's all 'unfair'. It's time they listened to the Audit Commission, local people and even the opposition groups on the Council instead of just ducking the real issues."