Greens councillor James Ryan accused the council of hiding or doctoring the report after he was advised by a spokeswoman for mayor Alison Davey that the independent report was ‘‘in draft form and the review is yet to be completed’’.

Cr Ryan rejected the explanation, saying the independent report was commissioned by the council in late 2009 after concerns were raised about the quality of roadworks carried out by the council after a number of incidents.

‘‘It’s not a draft report. It’s an independent report, which means it’s an assessment of our roadworks performance which should not need a review before it is presented to councillors and the public,’’ Cr Ryan said.

‘‘The trouble with not releasing the report is that people will immediately ask why. Is it because it’s embarrassing to the council? The Local Government Act says that just because a document or report is embarrassing, or people might misunderstand it, that’s not a reason not to release a report.’’

Cr Ryan said the council had been heavily criticised for the standard of its roads and councillors needed an objective assessment of whether it was getting value for the money it was investing.

‘‘Roads are a huge issue in Cessnock because we’ve got more kilometres per capita than other councils in the Hunter,’’ Cr Ryan said.

A spokeswoman for Ms Davey denied that the council was refusing to release the report.