The number of complaints made to Lewisham Council has increased by more than a third, as the council pays out more than £13k in compensation.

The council received the most complaints to the highways directorate, which includes parking, and the environment directorate, which includes bin collections.

In 2015/16 the council received 4,308 complaints, with more than half of those relating to customer services.

But the number of complaints increased by 33 per cent to 5,743 in 2016/17.

The number of customer service complaints increased by more than 50 per cent for the same period, rising from 2,414 to 3,633.

Rushey Green residents issued the most complaints in the borough, with highways, refuse and housing needs their biggest cause to complain.

This was closely followed by New Cross residents, who made the most complaints about the tenancy team at Lewisham Homes.

Compensation was awarded in 18 cases in 2016/17, costing £13,699.80, of which £2,250 was for complaints about Lewisham Homes.

The number of complaints to resources and regeneration, which includes planning, increased by 38 per cent between 2015/16 to 2016/17.

For the same period, complaints to the children and young people directorate, which includes children’s social care, education standards and inclusion and school infrastructure increased by 35 per cent.

The increased number of complaints about parking was because of an increase in controlled parking zones across the borough, according to Lewisham Council documents.

The new street scape scheme in Dartmouth Road also caused a lot of complaints.

Housing issues which relate to the shortage of social housing, lack of permanent accommodation, and dissatisfaction to being placed in out of borough temporary accommodation was also a concern for residents, according to Lewisham Council documents.

People were also finding it difficult to use Homesearch – the council’s online site for allocating social housing.

A slight increase in fly-tipping and the introduction of fortnightly refuse collections and weekly food  waste collections had also made an impact on the increase in complaints, according to the documents.

In 2015/16 council tax, housing needs, housing benefits and highways received the highest number of complaints.