"My new bin’s second-hand" and "my neighbour’s fence is falling down".

These were among recent complaints received by Canterbury City Council after the Gazette asked them to disclose the last 100 remarks they had received via their comments and complaints scheme.

Everything from dog mess to noisy road sweepers was on the list.

Only five per cent of comments praised the council, with eight per cent blasting council staff.

The most contentious subject to attract reaction was planning applications, with 19 comments, followed by council tax disputes, with 14.

Two people complained about dog mess on pavements while another two wanted something done about nuisance neighbours.

The subject of bins proved popular, with six people having their say, one more than the five who complained about parking.

More than a fifth of comments related to benefit claims and a lack of correspondence.

City council spokesman Rob Davies said: "We provide around 70 different services to more than 140,000 people, so there will always be occasions when people feel we haven’t performed as well as we could.

"Given the range of what we do, we believe the number of complaints is pretty small, and when there has been a problem, we have done our best to resolve it as soon as possible."