SOUTH Lakeland District Council is awaiting feedback from a public body watchdog on its recovery after being rated "weak".

Bosses at the troubled authority are expecting to meet with the Audit Commission in the next two to three weeks when they will hear how well they are progressing. More formal feedback should follow afterwards.

The council was given the rating around 12 months ago after a Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). The Audit Commission is an independent public body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent efficiently in local government and other areas.

SLDC has produced a document, called Direction of Travel, which outlines what improvements have been made and what it plans to do next.

Acting chief executive Mike Jones was away from the council this week on leave and solicitor to the council Debbie Storr had taken on some of his responsibilities.

She said the Direction of Travel document had not been made public yet but should be in due course.

"We have done an awful lot since the CPA came out and hope the Direction of Travel will give us some positive feedback and show us we are going in the right direction, but we are subject to the response from the District Auditor," she said.

She would not make any comment on the continuing suspensions of two senior officers at the council.

Chief executive Philip Cunliffe and finance director Jack Jones are believed to have been suspended since April, although the authority has never confirmed the names of those involved.

The suspensions arose after it emerged that the council's new pay and grading structure was going to cost £1.6 million which was £1 million more than originally estimated.

A third officer, human resources manager Andrew Taylor, who was also understood to have been suspended, resigned last month.

The council has said that the suspensions were precautionary and should not imply misconduct.

Debbie Storr said she would not make any comment on the suspensions this week: "We are following a due process and just have to await the outcome of that process."

l SOUTH Lakeland District Council has received £60,000 from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to assist with the authority's improvement programme.

Acting Chief Executive Mike Jones said that the council had made a number of "significant improvements" over the past year including developing the Community Strategy, producing a new Corporate Plan and reviewing the way overview and scrutiny committees operate.

"A number of other improvements are under way and the whole improvement plan is due for completion by March 2006," said Mr Jones. "There is still a long way to go but the £60,000 award from the Government is a real bonus and will help us to achieve our aims."