MAINTENANCE work on council houses is set to improve after inspectors highlighted a weak spot in an overall good report.Ipswich Borough Council just missed out on an "excellent" rating from Audit Commission inspectors.

MAINTENANCE work on council houses is set to improve after inspectors highlighted a weak spot in an overall good report.

Ipswich Borough Council just missed out on an "excellent" rating from Audit Commission inspectors.

And despite concluding the council was "good" overall, their report highlighted a need to improve home maintenance and processing benefits.

A council spokesman said he was pleased with the verdict and that steps had already been taken to address weaknesses.

He said: "The council has already taken steps to speed up processing times and so improve service delivery to customers.

"The problem of repairs was one of data collection not performance, which remains very good."

The inspectors praised the council for its strong community links and ambitions for the future.

They also picked out refuse collection, recycling, street cleaning and housing as being particularly good.

Major renovation projects and finance management were also praised in the report.

Council leader Peter Gardiner said: "This result speaks for itself, but this is not the time to rest on our laurels.

"We know we are doing well, but we want to do even better.

"The important thing is that we are talking to residents all the time. This is their council and therefore they should be proud to have this result."

The council spokesman also highlighted the report's approval for additional cash being ploughed into two major priorities – Clean and Attractive Ipswich and Safer Ipswich.