INSPECTORS are hopeful that town hall bosses can get their message over louder to the public.

The Audit Commission has given just "one star", on a scale of zero to three, to the council's communications team. However, they say it has "promising prospects for improvement".

The Best Value inspection looked at press and public information, customer care, complaints, translation services, MetroDesign and the mayoralty.

The Commission found, from surveys, high overall satisfaction and also praised the council's attempts to improve communication between departments.

But there were also weaknesses. Inspectors said Bury had compared only one area of its performance with that of other councils: and in that, satisfaction with the way complaints are handled, Bury was in the bottom quarter.

There were no overall strategies for media, marketing and complaints, and a survey in 2000 revealed that only 40 per cent of local people were satisfied with the amount of information they received.

They made three recommendations: to discover how well the council's publications are reaching people; to consider working with partners or sponsors to make sure the service is competitive; and to review and set performance targets for the Press agency it uses.

Mr Brian Stevenson, commissioning inspector, said: "The council's improvement plan is extensive, ambitious and includes measurable targets.

"However, this needs to be translated into detailed plans to show how improvement will be delivered and resourced.

"The council will also need to concentrate on developing an overall strategy for communications and customer care, improving access to the council's services and enhancing the website. This work should be carried out in liaison with local people, the business community, voluntary organisations and partners."

Councillor Gill Campbell, executive member for communications and community development, added: "We are pleased that the inspectors have highlighted the things that we are doing well and that they believe we will continue to improve.

"They took an extremely hard but fair look at the service and we appreciate their findings.

"We realise there is still much to do and we will be taking on board the suggestions made by the inspectors to improve our communications both internally and externally."