In a damning report inspectors rated the authority as 'poor' but with 'promising prospects for improvement', according to a report released today by the independent Audit Commission.

It found vulnerable tenants were sometimes not known or even responded to and disabled tenants were being kept waiting too long for adaptations to their homes.

On a scale from zero to three stars, the Audit Commission inspection team gave the service a zero star rating. It follows a previous inspection in 2005 which also found that the council was delivering a poor service.

Ann Bennett, the Audit Commission's lead housing inspector for the East Midlands, said: "Although improvements have been made since our last inspection, the service still does not focus sufficiently on its customers.

"Repairs are cancelled without tenants' knowledge and the arrangements for making appointments are not effective.

"The needs of vulnerable tenants are not always known or responded to and there are lengthy delays in carrying out major adaptations for disabled tenants."

But it did also find that "robust improvement plans" had been put in place to try to turn the service around.

Weaknesses include repair jobs being cancelled without tenants' knowledge and an appointments system which is not working well.

The service will be inspected again within the next 18 months to make sure that improvements have been made.

A North East Derbyshire Council spokesperson said: "Major improvements have been made to the repairs and maintenance service since the Audit Commission inspection was carried out more than 12 months ago.

"North East Derbyshire District Council had already started to implement important service improvements at the time of the inspection in December 2006 and was, therefore, disappointed with the Audit Commission's findings.

"The council has taken on board the issues identified in the Commission's report and developed a very robust action plan to address their concerns."

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