Councils start legal challenge to 'crude' comprehensive assessment ratings

The local authorities have been considering action since last month (HT 12 December, page 8). They have now filed applications for a judicial review of the Audit Commission's ratings of Ealing, west London, as "weak" and Torbay, Devon, as "poor".

The councils, which attempted to stop publication of the results last month, are angry over the methodology and scoring, which Torbay called "crude".

Salford council in Greater Manchester is also considering action over the inclusion of its no-star housing inspection result, which dragged its overall score down to "weak". Meanwhile, Bury council said it was outraged at its "demotion" from "fair" to "weak". Chief executive Mark Sanders said the commission's decision was "legally questionable, dysfunctional and detracts from the improvement agenda".

If the councils succeed, this year's CPA exercise would have to be scrapped, upsetting government plans to reward high-performing councils with extra borrowing power, a decision to be based on CPA scores.

The commission’s decision was legally questionable and detracts from the improvement agenda

Mark Sanders, chief executive, Bury council

The Audit Commission could also be forced to repay the £6m it charged councils for the assessment.

Solicitor Eversheds is acting for Torbay and Ealing councils. Stephen Cirell, Eversheds' head of local government, said: "This is an incredibly important action that will determine whether CPA is lawful or not. Our QC's advice is that the commission got it wrong."

The Audit Commission will file an acknowlegement of the claim by 17 January and a timetable will then be set to hear the case.