THE number of complaints about Bolton Council made to the local government ombudsman has risen by 14 per cent during the last year.

But the number which were settled after being taken to the ombudsman has doubled.

In her annual report ombudsman Patricia Thomas revealed that 14 complaints made to her about Bolton Council had been settled by the authority before she reached the stage of writing a critical report -- an increase of seven on the previous year.

There was one further case where a formal report was written before the council settled with the complainant.

Most local authorities in Greater Manchester saw the number of complaints about them dealt with by the local government ombudsman rise in 2000/01.

Mrs Thomas dealt with 41 cases from Bolton, up by 14 per cent on the previous year. In 16 cases she found no evidence of maladministration, a further five cases were found to be outside her jurisdiction and in five instances the complaint was withdrawn or the ombudsman was unable to contact the complainant.

Most of the complaints from the Bolton area centred around planning, enforcement, environmental health and highways issues.

There were two complaints about education admissions, a problem across many authorities which Mrs Thomas highlights in her annual report, published today.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "Only one report was formally resolved by the ombudsman which, we feel, indicates that we are correctly handling complaints and that our procedures are working.

"We welcome the report which we feel reflects the serious way in which we handle complaints.

"However, overall the number of complaints rose from 36 to 41 and we will continue to monitor the situation."