Cambridge City Council criticised over rise of complaints

Cambridge City Council has received criticism over its ‘failure to deliver on basic services for residents’.

Data has shown that the council has received some 10,981 comments on its services in the past year, of which 3,877 were negative (35 per cent).

Meanwhile, the council's annual complaints and feedback report highlights 147 compliments sent to the council and 559 complaints.

36 per cent of complaints relate to two frontline services: refuse collection and estates and facilities. Both services underwent operational changes last year which, councillors say, may have led to additional customer complaints.

Cllr Rod Cantrill said: “Labour is failing Cambridge residents in the delivery of basic services such as bin collection. This is the second year that there has been a massive increase in complaints. It is clear Labour has done nothing to address the issues raised last year. This compares with the downward trend of complaints when the Liberal Democrats ran the city.

“Executive Councillors do not have a grip on the key services that residents expect from the city council. If they can't even get the collection of bins right it does question Labour's ability to run the council."

However, Cllr Richard Robertson, executive councillor for finance and resources, argued: “We are happy to deal with complaints because we can learn from them. When the Lib Dems were in office, they had similar complaints.

“It is all a learning process. There has been an awful lot of change over the last year. We are working hard to restore the services to the level they should be."