A FLAGSHIP council policy has been given a one-star rating by Government inspectors.

But Liberal Democrats on City of York Council are so unhappy with the damning Audit Commission report on waste management services they have complained about the inspectors.

Another "green" review was scheduled for 2008 - but in the face of criticism this has been hurriedly pushed forward to next summer under new inspectors.

This rare move came after the hard-hitting waste report - delayed since Easter by meetings between senior councillors and commission chiefs over content - said the Guildhall only provided a "fair" service on refuse collection, street cleaning and recycling.

The £4.7 million service has "uncertain prospects for improvement", the report states.

Labour said it showed Lib Dems were failing on one of their key political goals: the environment, propelled by the York Pride clean-up campaign.

But Lib Dems said the single star was "unfair" and did not mirror action on the streets.

Inspectors said there had been poor progress meeting previous recommendations. Progress was also slow on removing abandoned cars and York's overall performance was below average compared with other authorities.

Specific staff responsibilities had to be clarified - so an individual officer, for example, was responsible for the amount of waste a crew collected - and IT systems backing up the York Pride hotline were poor, with some complaints typed up, printed off then faxed to an officer before being acted on.

Coun David Horton, Labour environment spokesman, said: "This inspection has judged the Lib Dem plans don't add up to much.

"It's apparently uncertain whether the council's street environment and waste services are going to improve at all. This suggests that, despite all the noise Coun Steve Galloway has made about them, the reality is he hasn't got the plans in place to deliver."

But Lib Dem environment chief Andrew Waller said February's review only gave York Pride a short period to "turn the city around from the mess inherited from Labour".

He said: "We do not feel we were dealt with satisfactorily. More weight was given to anecdotal evidence that we were not able to challenge.

"We look forward to them revisiting us to demonstrate that we are taking positive steps."

Praise included improved customer satisfaction, high levels of cleanliness, better recycling and the positive impact of York Pride.

Other improvements, such as a new computer information logging system so all officers can view complaints in real time, have been introduced since the report was published and were not taken into account, said Coun Waller.

But inspectors called for clearer success criteria for the York Pride project, and branded the effectiveness of the council's waste strategy limited.

Andy Hudson, assistant environment director at the council, said: "Streets are cleaner than ever, and we have a whole new raft of policies designed to tackle litter and graffiti." He said the council nearly achieved a "good" ranking and was confident of hitting this next summer.

A commission spokesman said the report was an accurate picture of the service when inspected.

Updated: 10:42 Monday, September 13, 2004