East Ayrshire Council has been praised for its leadership and performance over the past 12 months in a report from the Accounts Commission.

Auditors said the authority had a "clear vision" for the future and an effective strategy for dealing with ongoing budgets cuts.

It was also praised for empowering local residents and working well with partnership agencies.

Council leader Douglas Reid welcomed the report.

He said: "I am delighted that the Accounts Commission has recognised the continued improving trend in our performance over recent years.

"This is particularly significant considering the financial challenges we have faced year on year, and will continue to face for some considerable time to come.

"The report rightly recognises our strengths in community planning and partnership working and it acknowledges the strong leadership across the council, with specific mention of the commitment shown by councillors, employees and partner organisations to be inclusive and work together to drive change and transformation."

Chief executive Fiona Lees added: "We can all be proud of this report. This is strong independent validation of all our efforts to continue to deliver best value services to the communities we serve and is testament to the hard work and commitment of our employees.

"I'm delighted to see that the work we are doing with our local communities has been highly commended.

"The audit team spent a lot of time with local people and they were impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm emerging from community led action plans, noting the collective efforts being made to make our communities more sustainable in the longer term."