THE number of people finding fault with Swindon Council has not fallen, new statistics reveal.

Local Government Ombuds-man Jerry White, the man responsible for examining claims on behalf of aggrieved residents, received 30 complaints against the authority during the last municipal year the same number as the previous 12 months.

And heading the list of complaints during 2002/03 were grievances against planning decisions and housing.

There were also complaints about housing benefit, environmental health and highways.

Council tax, social services and personnel matters made up the rest of the list.

Of the 30 complaints, four were settled locally, there was no evidence of misadministration in 12 cases and five were outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction.

But in five further cases the ombudsman found there was misadministration that caused injustice.

Council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawns) said: "It's good news that we're receiving less complaints than other comparable authorities and we will continue to endeavour to keep the number of complaints down."

Among the cases Mr White looked into was that of seven families in Stratton who complained after a planning blunder led to a 20ft mobile phone transmitter being erected in Stratton St Margaret. Yesterday the Evening Advertiser revealed that the council had sent out the last compensation cheque in a package that cost the authority around £120,000.

Mr White found the council guilty of misadministration causing injustice and ordered the compensation payments for the loss of value in homes affected. The council has now paid the seven families living near the Ermin Street mast between £10,000 and £20,000 each.

However, Swindon compares favourably when compared to the number of complaints against similar authorities.

Nottingham City Council had 105 complaints filed against it, Hull 81, Brighton and Hove 58, Bristol 65, Portsmouth 51, Southampton 34 and Reading 33.