WEST Somerset Council's housing service has been branded as 'poor' by watchdogs for the third time in four years, although hope does appear to be on the horizon.

The authority's latest report by the Audit Commission again gives the council a zero star rating out of a potential three stars with "uncertain prospects for improvement".

It is a step up from its 2008 "poor prospects" grading and a return to the level given to the council in 2006.

The commission's inspectors once again singled out the council's failure to provide affordable housing, the lack of success in dealing with poor housing conditions in the private sector and its ineffectiveness in bringing empty homes back into use.

Services were not always customer focused, telephone access was deemed to be particularly difficult and customer feedback was not used effectively to shape services.

Service plans often had weaknesses, little had been done to help homeowners improve their energy efficiency and the number of new homes being built, particularly affordable properties, was not meeting needs.

However, face-to-face contact with staff was felt to be easy, a satisfactory range of information was available to residents, the council was working well with partners and had now established a sound understanding of housing markets.

Access to social housing had been made easier, homelessness prevention was more effective and disabled facilities grants were now well managed, although still taking too long to implement.

In particular, there was praise for the strong political leadership provided by Cllr Kate Kravis, the lead member for housing, while the council as a whole was found to "know what it needed to do" to make improvements.

Inspectors said: "Members have taken ownership of the council's problems, set clear priorities and demonstrated leadership by taking tough political decisions.

"The housing portfolio holder is seen by stakeholders as being a passionate and effective ambassador for the service with an informed understanding of the service and what is required to make it effective.

"The council has made considerable progress from a low base towards establishing the key building blocks it needs to stabilise its financial position, strengthen political leadership and governance and create strategic management capacity.

"It has moved on significantly in recent years and now has more credibility with the community and partners and lead councillors recognise that this from a low base and much more needs to be done."

Auditors said effective partnership working had improved service delivery, new plans had either been adopted or were in the pipeline to address many of the gaps highlighted and capacity enhanced by management development.

But there were no plans to improve access arrangements by telephone or customer focus through training, while the council's financial position remained "fragile" and management capacity was being reduced by operational demands.

The inspectors said a number of major construction projects could provide "significant opportunities" for improving the housing supply in the district but noted the authority had only managed to deliver nine affordable homes in the current financial year, against a target of 51.

The auditors said: "The delivery of new housing has improved and there is now an increased focus, improved partnership working and capacity to support delivery.

"However, new housing completions are not meeting current and predicted need, performance in the development control service is weak and support for developers is of mixed quality.

"Inconsistent support to developers can mean delays, unsuccessful applications and missed opportunities to support wider agendas."

Kieran Colgan, the Audit Commission's lead housing inspector for the south West said: "Since our last inspection there have been some significant improvements in the strategic housing service.

"While this is positive, service quality still falls below the standard that local people expect and deserve.

"The council now has a clear focus on improving the service but it needs to do more with partner organisations to turn its ambition into a reality."

Inspectors made a number of recommendations for improvement, including setting challenging targets for telephone answering, training staff and councillors in customer care, boosting the quality of service plans and making better use of existing housing by improving grant aid and energy efficiency initiatives.

Cllr Kravis said the council had already taken steps to address a number of the points raised by the audit.

She said: "Naturally, we would like to have progressed more swiftly but we are pleased that the Audit Commission has recognised that we have made significant improvements in a short period of time from an extremely low base.

"The empty homes strategy approved by council last week will be key in getting the 56 properties that have been empty for two years or longer back into use.

"The council has adopted a new approach to affordable housing which is beginning to show results and has more than tripled the number of new affordable homes coming on to the market since 2007.

"A raft of initiatives under the affordable energy and fuel poverty strategy also approved last week will help homeowners bring their homes up to standard.

"Finally, while we know we still need to improve, our clients remain our top priority.

"Customer satisfaction surveys show that 92 per cent of people using our housing service last year were satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received from our team, and I am proud that the team is making positive differences for these clients."