THE watchdog responsible for considering the final stage of complaints against local authorities saw the number of complaints against Poole council more than double last year compared to the previous 12 months.

Over 2017/18, 58 complaints about the council reached the Local Government Ombudsman compared to 28 a year earlier – the highest number in nine years.

Annual reviews of all local authorities detailing the number of complaints and their outcome have been published.

While Christchurch, East Dorset, North Dorset and Purbeck councils all saw a fall in the number of complaints reaching the last stage fell in 2017/18, three saw a rise.

Complaints against Bournemouth and Dorset County councils also increased, from 49 to 54 and 56 to 65 respectively, although Poole council saw the biggest rise of any council in the county.

The most common area of complaint was about its adult social care services with children’s services and planning the next highest.

Of the 58 received against the authority, 17 required a detailed investigation by the watchdog of which eight were eventually upheld.

Among them was a complaint about council delays in assessing a woman’s home care costs and for not offering adequate compensation for a beach hut owner’s maintenance works overrunning by five months.

In one incident, the Local Government Ombudsman found that a woman had been “caused an injustice” by the council by not offering her the opportunity to reject a housing offer which was “unsuitable for her needs” which had been made after she and her family had been made homeless.

After the ruling, the council admitted that there had been an “unreasonable delay” in considering her appeal and apologised.

The council also agreed to review its duties towards homeless applicants, to arrange training for officers on its homelessness duties and paid the woman £300.

Most complaints do not require LGO intervention with a larger number (24) sent back to the council for it to resolve itself over the course of the year.