A PROMINENT councillor has accused Worcestershire Coun-ty Council of spending £70,000 on self-congratulatory leaflets to boost its public satisfaction survey performance, while neglecting services.

County councillor Tom Wells said £15,000 was spent on producing and £55,000 on distributing Word on Worce-stershire (WoW) and the A to Z Guide to Services to county homes this month, yet £1m had been cut from the highways budget.

Councillor Wells said WoW was not usually posted to homes, and he felt Autumn's edition was intended to massage the public mood for the pending public satisfaction survey - a Government survey used to score local authorities.

"I would call it a very cynical use of public money, he said.

"£55,000 has been spent on this glossy leaflet full of self-congratulatory spin, meanwhile the footpaths and roads in my Powick division continue to deteriorate."

He said when he asked local residents to voice their concerns about highways matters, he received 80 letters.

Coun Wells, a Liberal Democrat, accused the council of taking its eye off the ball since the authority was rated as excellent in 2004 by the Audit Commission.

He said that both leaflets - which cost an average of 29p per household - also contained mistakes.

WoW provided telephone numbers for the Highways Partnership Unit (HPU), which disbanded in the summer, while the A to Z had the wrong telephone number for Pershore's customer centre.

Diane Tilley, director of planning, economy and performance said restructuring of the HPU should enable the continued improvement of highways and footways. Residents could raise queries by calling the Worcestershire Hub on 01905 765765.

"However, during the interim period while the restructure period is completed, the previous numbers for the highways service are still valid and residents can still use them," she added.

"We're sorry if this has caused confusion, but residents using the numbers printed in WoW should not have experienced any inconvenience."

Councillor Alwyn Davies, cabinet member for planning, economy and performance, said WoW had been distributed to homes for 18 months using various methods, but because some were not receiving it, the decision was taken to post it.

"We took the one-off decision to get this done and will review this at the next board meeting," he said.

He denied that the leaflets were self-congratulatory and said the council's citizens panel revealed that WoW was well received by the county's residents. "It's providing what the public wants," he added.

"We are now a four star council because the Govern-ment has changed its ratings, and to continue to get these high levels you can't take your eye off the ball."

With regard to the inclusion of HPU numbers he said: "With all the restructuring at the moment I don't think when WoW was finally put together we knew exactly when the new system would be in place."

Coun Davies said the correct number for Pershore's Cus-omer Centre was in WoW and on the council's website.

Coun Derek Prodger, cabinet member for the environment, said about three months ago councillors were asked to provide a list of 10 priorities for their divisions.

He said that if Coun Wells asked residents to write to him with concerns about highways, he would inevitably get this response.

"I spoke to Tom Wells last week about communications and he never raised this with me," he said.

"If he wishes to bring these 80 replies to me personally I will sit with him and go through every one of them."