FEWER than half of York people are satisfied with cleanliness levels in the city, says a report from Government watchdogs.

But council chiefs today said the findings of the Audit Commission's annual letter - which said that only 47 per cent of people were happy with street environment services - were taken before the York Pride scheme had started.

The commission reported that, for the inspection period of 2002/2003, City of York Council failed to meet its target that 65 per cent of residents would be satisfied with street cleanliness.

The report, which will be considered by councillors on the council's ruling executive on Tuesday, concluded that the service had "uncertain prospects for improvement".

It said that "as well as reporting low satisfaction levels, customers do not know what to expect from the service and find it difficult to report problems".

Coun Andrew Waller, the council's deputy leader, said the findings concerned the period of late 2002 and early 2003.

He said the York Pride initiative, started after the Liberal Democrats won the election in May 2003, was addressing the Audit Commission's concerns.

"Their findings are before we took control and implemented York Pride. I suppose it shows why we started the policy in the first place," he said.

"We are trying to give people confidence in public services and I am very pleased with the way York Pride is going, along with the enthusiasm and determination of the staff taking part."

The report also criticised the council's performance in planning, stating that only 18 per cent of major applications were determined within 13 weeks, compared with the Government target of 60 per cent.

The commission said: "This poor performance will not assist the council with your aim of attracting additional investment into the city".

Coun Ann Reid, executive member for planning and transport, said Government targets did not always take into account the problems associated with a historic city like York.

She said: "We are slowly improving our planning performance and we recognise that there is still a lot of work to do. I am confident we can improve even further."

Updated: 08:41 Thursday, January 29, 2004