Audit Scotland has found many council buildings are in poor condition and others are unsuitable for the services being delivered from them. Councils need better strategies and systems for managing their assets.

The report published today, Asset management in Local Government in Scotland, looks at how councils manage their property assets. It says that only around half of the local authorities have a council-wide strategy for this and although there is some good management information available it is not always used to support decision-making.

The report focuses on the 12,400 properties owned by Scotland's councils. In some, over 90% of buildings are in good condition. But across Scotland, one in four council buildings are in poor or bad condition and 23% are unsuitable for the services being delivered from them. Over 1,550 buildings (14%) fail in both respects.

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Buildings consume a great deal of resources, including energy and maintenance costs, cleaning and security. They also need to have good access for people using them and enable services to be delivered effectively.

There is little evidence that building use is being effectively challenged or scrutinised by councillors.

However President Pat Watters of the local authority representative body Cosla said: "The bottom line is that buildings require a vast amount of money spent on them on an ongoing basis and this has not always been possible as demands for services and additional funding pressures kick in.

"The commission has to realise that the whole of the public sector is operating in the teeth of the worst recession in living memory."

Chair of the Accounts Commission, John Baillie said: "We encourage councillors and council officials to take a much more active and dynamic approach to assessing and scrutinising council assets and how they meet people's current and future needs.

"They need to be better at planning much further ahead, such as in the provision of new buildings. This is all part of providing best value services to local people."

Councils spent over £136m on property maintenance in 2007/08. While some councils carry out most of their maintenance in a planned way, others react to problems as they arise, which is more costly in the long run.

A property maintenance backlog totalling £1.4bn was reported by councils, although the actual figure is likely to be higher as nine councils were unable to provide information on this.

(GK/JM)