THE borough's potholes and faulty street lights are coming under the steely glare of official inspectors.

A team from the Audit Commission's Best Value inspection service have arrived to take a detailed look at all matters concerning the borough's highways.

They are examining all aspects of the department's operations, from road maintenance to gully cleansing, drainage, and public rights of way to civil engineering design and project management.

The inspection is part of the Government's new Best Value regime, which places a duty on all councils to deliver the most economic, efficient and effective services possible.

Highways development and maintenance is the first area to be covered in Bury with similar inspections due to take place shortly in the fields of cultural services, then sports and recreation. Councillor Cath Platt, chairman of best value and competitiveness, said: "This is no "quick-fix" initiative but a real attempt to get the best out of our services.

"We believe that we give value for money and involve residents in the decision-making process. However, we would be naive to think that we got things right all the time.

"While we may not like everything that the inspection service has to say about us, we will listen and act to bring about change and improvement."

The inspectors will spend two weeks in Bury after which they will pass judgement, highlighting the good and suggesting areas of improvement.

Councillor Steve Perkins, chairman of highways and transportation, said the council had been forced to take hard decisions over spending priorities in recent years.

"To protect services such as education we have cut back on areas such as highways maintenance," he said. "That is not something we have wanted to do, it has been a necessity.

"We have just finished a review of the service and we know, before the inspection team arrive, that they will certainly find some shortcomings. Many of those we will be able to point out ourselves and tell them what we are doing to correct the situation."