CLITHEROE is a disgrace, road and traffic management is appalling, councillors are smug and the administrative side of local government are lazy, grossly overpaid people, according to a survey.

These were just a few of the 'negative' comments received by Ribble Valley Council following a Best Value Customer Satisfaction Survey mailed to a random selection of 3,239 residents.

It was an exercise which has been imposed on all local authorities as part of a Government move to improve local services

Although residents in the main classed themselves as satisfied and had no complaints, one responder criticised the borough council for its 'criminal waste of council resources' saying traffic calming caused dangerous rat runs.

He accused it of "keeping each in jobs for the boys" and concluded: "Hang your heads in shame".

Others felt all the attention was paid to Clitheroe with the surrounding villages and towns missing out on improvements and facilities, while some felt the planning department disregarded the views of Longridge residents and granted every planning application for new houses with no consideration for wildlife, hedges or trees.

But scathing though some of the comments were, they were in fact in the minority and the council said it was pleased with the high level of response from the survey which promoted a total of 2,053 replies.

The survey sought satisfaction levels in four main areas: corporate health - overall services provided by the authority and the handling of complaints; litter - the standards of cleanliness of relevant land; waste - recycling facilities and household waste collection and cultural and recreational facilities. The statistics showed that overall, 72 per cent of those taking part were satisfied with the way things were run in general, 88 per cent were satisfied with the refuse collection service, 69 per cent felt the council kept the area litter free, 64 per cent were satisfied with the overall provision of waste recycling facilities, 43 per cent were satisfied with the sports and leisure facilities and 52 per cent were satisfied with the community and recreational facilities.

Those with 'positive' comments did not restrict their praise with some describing the provision of services as excellent and the response to their queries by the council as quick and civil.

The residents who commented on those services which in their opinion required improvements resulted in a wish list of 10.

Top of the list was a call to reduce dog fouling followed by improving waste recycling, reducing litter on highways, improving quality of refuse sacks, providing a swimming pool in Longridge, providing wheelie bins, improving/ providing rural facilities, improving/ providing play areas, improving car parking and reducing/ removing problems with air pollution.

Members said they were pleased with the number of responses received and reassured by the high levels of satisfaction expressed in the questionnaire.

In his conclusion to the results of the survey chief executive David Morris said: "We found the exercise very useful in finding out what people living in the Ribble Valley really think about our services.

"More importantly, the information will help us to plan improvements to services as well as producing similar data for comparisons with other local authorities."