WYCHAVON District Council has been ranked in the top three district councils in the country for its quality performance.

The council came third in a survey of 238 local authorities throughout England and Wales.

Recently commissioned league tables, put together by Worcestershire County Council with information submitted to the government, show the authority to be one of the best.

Every authority in England has to submit the performance results every year on a range of issues from planning to housing.

Out of the top three, Wychavon charges the lowest council tax with the district services costing less than £100.

Executive board member Cllr Clive Holt said: "We are providing good quality services at a good value to our residents. High quality does not necessarily mean high costs."

Wychavon's performance officer Alan Smith said: "Each year we set ourselves challenging targets and each quarter we monitor our progress,

"Our current position shows we are largely on track to achieve our targets and deliver what we said we would."

The quarterly monitoring has shown that the council's housing service is beating its own targets.

Classed as excellent in a government inspection earlier this year the service created an extra 32 affordable homes in the district against a target of 50 for the whole year.

They have also brought 27 private sector vacant dwellings back into occupation and reduced the average time which priority homeless cases spent in bed and breakfast accommodation to four weeks.

Executive board member for housing Judy Pearce said: "In just over two years since inspectors told us our housing service was poor we have continued to improve at a remarkable rate.

"We are committed in striving towards providing everyone in the district with a decent home.

"The housing team has worked really hard and exceeded all targets that we have set so that we can provide an excellent service that our customers will benefit from."