Tameside council has been given top marks by government inspectors - for the second time in a row

Tameside Council has done it again. The authority has been given four stars and "improving strongly" rating by inspectors for the second time in a row - placing it in the top five per cent of best performing councils in the country.

Government spending watchdog the Audit Commission praised Tameside's performance for being "consistently high" and "even further improved in areas that local people say are important."

Improvements have been made in a number of key areas: educational attainment is improving faster than the national average; unemployment is lower than the Greater Manchester average; inward investment is high; crime levels are low; and life expectancy is increasing.

Yet this has been achieved on a low cost base - last year Tameside's Council Tax increase was set as just 2.73 percent - the third lowest increase for all metropolitan boroughs.