SCOTTISH Borders Council has received a mixed report card on its performance last year compared to other local authorities in Scotland.

It follows the publication of so-called benchmarking data for 2013/14, collated and published by the Scottish Government’s Improvement Service which uses specific indicators to assess how Scotland’s 32 councils are performing.

Among a raft of statistics, the data shows that SBC’s spend on roads maintenance – assessed at £3,546 per kilometre – is well below the Scottish average of £6,058.

However, the report cautions that each council represents communities which are diverse in terms of geography, population and deprivation levels and that the information should be understood in that context.

It was a point taken up by David Cressey, SBC’s director of strategy and policy, who said that while the benchmarking tools were useful it was sometimes more appropriate to compare his council to other rural local authorities like Dumfries and Galloway.

And the spend per kilometre on roads maintenance in that council area is just £2,392.

“When we look, for example, at the recyling rates of others like us, we compare very well, but our rates are lower than urban councils,” said Mr Cressey. “We are delighted to see how well we compare to others in relation to positive destinations for our young people leaving school, as well as more generally in terms of attainment in our schools.

“However, we know there is work to do in our most deprived areas and our schools already have improvement plans in place to address this. We also perform well on our council tax collection rates and costs and it terms of the percentage of people with self directed support [SDS] arrangements for their social care.” Councillor Michael Cook, executive member for HR and Corporate Improvement, acknowledged that SBC’s performance varied across service areas.

“Like other councils in Scotland, we face challenges in relation to resources, but we continually look to assess how we are performing in relation to other and to improve our services by identifying best practice,” said Mr Cook.

“We already have officers going to visit other councils to explore how they are improving performance and reducing costs to see if there is anything we can change locally.”