Harrogate council has twice as many complaints as any other district authority in North Yorkshire, report reveals

Figures from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman - which investigates complaints made by the public about councils - show Harrogate had 32 complaints in 2019/2020, with only three of them being upheld.

This was up from 22 in 2018/19 and 12 in 2017/18, with the biggest area of upset being planning and development, which received 12 complaints.

Out of North Yorkshire's seven district councils, the authorities with the next highest number of complaints were Selby District Council and Scarborough Borough Council, which both received 16.

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Harrogate Borough Council has the largest population of any council area in the county at 160,000, according to the Office for National Statistics, but other areas with larger populations received fewer complaints.

New Forest (population 180,000) received 16, Colchester (population 194,000) received 20, West Suffolk (population 180,000) also received 20 and Charwood (population 185,000) received 23.

When residents are not happy with the result of a complaint made directly to the council, they can go to the ombudsman, which decides whether or not to investigate.

If the complaint is upheld following an investigation, the watchdog can make recommendations for how the local authority should remedy the problem.

In Harrogate's case last year, the ombudsman investigated 31 complaints and upheld three, or 33 per cent.

The “average upheld rate for similar authorities” was 45 per cent.

But the figures show in all cases where complaints were upheld, the ombudsman was satisfied by the measures subsequently taken by the council.

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In one of the complaints that was upheld, the ombudsman found the council caused "some injustice" to a resident from the way it recovered outstanding council tax from him.

The ombudsman also found fault by the council in the way that it dealt with a tendering process which it invited a business to bid on.

In June, more details of complaints about Harrogate Borough Council and its councillors were revealed in a separate report.

Documents showed there were issues ranging from allegations of bullying and bias, to claims a councillor had deliberately made misleading statements to the media.

Two complaints to the council warranted action by the ombudsman and £400 in compensation was paid out to disgruntled residents.

A council spokesman said: “Feedback from residents and customers can be really beneficial to us as a local authority and we thank the Ombudsman for the independent platform that allows people to do this easily.”

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter