WAVERLEY Borough Council offers its tenants just a one-star service, and some aspects of it fall within the worst 25 per cent of the country, according to a report by the Audit Commission.

The commission's report into the council's programmed and cyclical maintenance service and responsive repairs, was discussed at a meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday.

It states that Waverley provides a "fair service that has promising prospects for improvement", but a number of areas came in for criticism.

Participation with tenants is considered weak, particularly with younger tenants; there is a lack of clear service standards and the council does not know fully what is required to meet the government's "decent homes standard", says the report.

Administration is more bureaucratic than it needs to be, because the council's computer system is not used effectively, the report adds.

The Haslemere locality office in Lion Green was criticised for not being open at lunchtimes, and having no facilities for children while people are visiting.

Councils can score up to three stars for an excellent service and zero for a poor one. Prospects for improvement are rated excellent, promising, uncertain, or poor.

Although some aspects of the Waverley service fared poorly, others scored in the top 25 per cent of the country.

To the council's credit., there is high customer satisfaction and a helpful staff. Non-urgent repairs are completed quickly and void properties are repaired and re-let comparatively quickly.

The Kilnfields redevelopment scheme particularly impressed the commission, as an imaginative and successful approach to property improvement. It was cited as a good example of the council actively seeking out tenants' views and working in a less formal way.

Waverley officers defended themselves from some of these criticisms at the meeting.

Head of the housing department, David January, said that parts of the report were "unfair" as a number of the concerns were already being addressed.

"Most of the recommendations are fairly standard, and come up time and time again in local authorities across the country," added housing policy manager Margaret Wright.

Councillor Dr Genny Lane said progress was being made on improving the council's maintenance, but there were still problems.

"In my ward, a tenant's ceiling fell down after a problem with the shower, but when they came to fix it they fixed the ceiling first - which was a waste of time," she said.

Mr January said: "The report's comment is a little unreasonable, because we have made very significant progress in this area."

Councillors had a range of questions for the officers, but it was agreed that they would be raised again at a housing workshop later in the year.

Mr January added that the council had no obligation to follow through the commission's recommendations.

"You may well want to ask the commission to come back at a future date though, to see what progress you've made," he told councillors.