BURY Council is to appeal against a recent Audit Commission Corporate Assessment Inspection.

Leaders feel that some of the council's achievements have not been fully recognised, even though the report refers to good progress in the nine key areas under scrutiny.

This comes on top of Bury being declared the most improved council in the country by the independent commission in December 2003.

Councillor John Byrne, leader of Bury Council, said: "We are naturally pleased to see Bury's efforts recognised by a 20 per cent improvement in Comprehensive Performance Assessment scores but are very disappointed that in some areas our achievements have not been translated into an increased score, most notably in 'prioritisation', 'achievement' and 'investment'.

"We feel that a number technical issues and judgements have been misinterpreted and, as a result, our achievements have been understated."

The council is taking up the Audit Commission's offer of an appeal over the revised corporate capacity assessment and a final announcement on Bury's rating will not now emerge until July.