THE number of complaints against Winchester City Council has halved over the last five years.

But complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman climbed last year by around 50 per cent.

Complaints dropped from 509 in 2011/12 to 269 in 2015/16, according to a report to the overview and scrutiny committee.

The highest number was for housing services with 104, down from 151 in 2011/12.

The biggest bugbear in 2011/12 was waste with 197 but that has plummeted to 33 in 2015/16.

The third highest source of complaints in 2011/12 was development management with 88 and that has dropped to 57 in 2015/16.

In 2015/16 the Ombudsman handled 34 complaints up from 22 the previous year. The biggest gripe in both years was planning and development with nine in 2014/15 and 22 in 2015/16.

Three Ombudsman complaints were upheld last year, compared to two the previous year. Two referred to how planning applications were handled and the other was about overpaid council tax benefit.