![\"Big](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_JAJ_TEM_030523Council_041JPG.jpg\")
One councillor agreed that it was a good thing that the council was getting lots of complaints(Image: Joseph Raynor\/ Nottingham Post)<\/p>\nThe authority has had as many complaints in the last five months as in the entire year prior to that<\/p>\n
Joseph Connolly Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n
17:58, 21 Nov 2025<\/p>\n
One councillor agreed that it was a good thing that the council was getting lots of complaints(Image: Joseph Raynor\/ Nottingham Post)<\/p>\n
Rushcliffe Borough Council has had more complaints in the past five months through its complaints system than in the entire previous year.<\/p>\n
The figures were reported at a Rushcliffe Borough Council<\/a> meeting on Tuesday, November 18.<\/p>\n The council\u2019s head of corporate services, Charlotte Caven-Atack, was presenting an annual report for 2024\/2025 on customer feedback, stating that, as in previous years, the report was \u201cpositive\u201d in her opinion.<\/p>\n But at the end of her report, she added that she wanted to \u201ctake the opportunity to manage expectations for when I sit here in 12 months time\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately I don\u2019t think I will be sitting here saying everything is the same as previous years,\u201d said Ms Caven-Atack.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy where we are for this year. Things are not looking as good in terms of the numbers for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n The exact numbers of complaints recorded in the past five months were not disclosed, but in 2024\/2025 there were 64 complaints, which, while Ms Caven-Atack described it as \u201cpositive\u201d, was the highest for five years<\/p>\n When questioned by Councillor Hetvi Parekh (Con) about what this year\u2019s complaints were about, Ms Caven-Atack explained that most were about one facet of council services.<\/p>\n \u201cThe increase that we\u2019ve seen this year is not in what we call neighbourhood services \u2013 that\u2019s pretty steady,\u201d she said. \u201cThe increase we\u2019ve seen this year is almost all in our council tax department.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been some changes in legislation and prominent media figures who, not happy with the way enforcement is done, are encouraging people to question what they\u2019re doing, which is fine, but it\u2019s opening up avenues and making it easier for people to complain about where they stand in regard to their council tax.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Caven-Atack also highlighted that the rise in popularity of AI has made it easier for people to generate complaint letters at speed, which could have contributed to the increase.<\/p>\n But she said: \u201cWe don\u2019t think there\u2019s a big problem in the way we\u2019re applying our policy. I\u2019m actually quite pleased that residents are finding our complaints process easy to use and they feel that it\u2019s worth them investing their time in complaining to us because it gives us the opportunity to put things right that have gone wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily see it as anything other than a healthy sign of engagement, but perhaps I won\u2019t be saying that this time next year \u2013 we\u2019ll wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n In June, the Government announced a shake-up of council tax<\/a> to \u201cmake life easier for local people\u201d, including reforms to make yearly bills payable over 12 months rather than the current 10.<\/p>\n