WEST Somerset district councillors were accused of "congratulatory back-slapping" and "smugness" by a colleague when the vast majority glossed over scathing criticisms contained in a report about the performance of the council.

Cllr David Banks attacked his fellow councillors for "blandly accepting" a report prepared by the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDA).

As reported in last week's Free Press, the report contained a mix of praise and criticism for the council.

While staff were said to be be committed and talented, the authority was singled out as the region's worst performing council for its all but non-existent housing policy.

But at Wednesday's full council meeting, chief executive Tim Howes' main comment on the 13-page report centred on how good it was.

He said: "Overall this report is excellent, especially if you compare it to reports received by our neighbours", referring to a damning report received by Mid Devon District Council.

He added: "Despite being such a good report, clearly there is room for improvement."

He came in for criticism for only giving councillors copies of a provisional action plan of improvements at the start of the meeting - despite having received the IDA report at the beginning of December.

Councillors complained they had not had time to read his recommendations so to comment on them at the meeting.

Among Mr Howes' initial pointers for improvements were regular monthly e-mail updates for all staff, quarterly progress reviews, the formation of new alliances and partnerships with groups outside the council and a new residents' six-monthly newsletter.

It is expected that more money will be spent employing consultants to tell the council what it should be doing concerning the housing strategy.

Faced with a recommendation from the IDA that "urgent action" was needed to develop and deliver a housing strategy, Mr Howes said the council should invite "expressions of interest from consultants".

A strategy would then have to be drawn up and the "staffing structure amended".

The IDA report had been scathing about the district's failure to address growing waiting lists for affordable houses, slow planning processes and the failure to meet target numbers for new homes.

Only a few councillors at Wednesday's meeting mentioned the housing criticisms, with vice-chairman Cllr Stan Taylor saying it was wrong to claim the authority was not achieving all of its goals.

But Cllr Banks urged his colleagues to face up to the criticisms in the report.

"I'm not keen on this congratulatory black-slapping and smugness because our report is better than Mid Devon District Council's," he said.

"There are criticisms in the report and only a fool would ignore them. We must admit these defects are there and tackle them positively."

His approach was echoed by the leader and deputy leader of the council, Steven Pugsley and Colin Hill.

Cllr Pugsley - who had been praised in the report for his leadership qualities - said all councillors had to recognise there were recommendations for improvements as well as positive points.

He told the meeting: "We can't be complacent about this. I welcome the recommendations put forward by the chief executive to address those points raised and that we do make progress."

Cllr Hill said the report had been "worth every penny", after Cllr Simon Stokes branded the £12,000 report as a waste of money.

Cllr Stokes claimed the council already knew where its weaknesses were without having to pay thousands of pounds to find out.

He was supported by Cllr Mike Gammon, who said the council had been given plenty of free advice over the years and totally ignored all of it.

But Cllr Hill said the whole point of the exercise was to make sure there were improvements across the board.

He added: "The hard work is definitely ahead of us. I'm pleased this report is factual, clear and correct. It has told us to get our act together, get a strategy written and move on."

Councillors voted 13 to four to accept the report and Mr Howes' provisional recommendations. They will now be expected to add their own comments to those recommendations and report back to the council over the next few weeks.

From there, Mr Howes will have to meet with representatives from the IDA to agree a more formal action plan, which in turn will be monitored by the agency over the next two years.