PEOPLE living in Worcestershire make good neighbours according to new figures showing the county's residents made very few complaints about neighbours-from-hell.

Worcestershire County Council received only 334 statutory nuisance complaints last year, which accounts for fewer than one complaint per 1,000 residents.

That put Worcestershire third in a poll of councils with the fewest complaints, closely following behind Gwynedd, in Wales, and the Isle of Scilly.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, who is chairman of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services joint committee, said the news showed the county's residents were respectful.

She said: "I think really this shows that residents in the county respect each other and show respect for their neighbours."

Cllr Hodgson said noisy neighbours and barking dogs were among the county's most popular complaints.

She added: "I know that Worcestershire Regulatory Services has done a lot of work in how to deal with noise issues.

"It does take it very seriously.

"We shouldn't forget that noise issues can be very, very serious and have a real impact on someone directly affected."

The figures came from more than three quarters of councils across the UK who had collectively received nearly half a million complaints - 466,156 - from people about their neighbours' behaviour, pets or properties.

Statutory complaints are ones a council has a duty to investigate.

The majority of the complaints, some 200,120, were about noisy neighbours between January and September last year while another 104,828 raised concerns about the condition of nearby homes such as poor hygiene, messy gardens and vermin.

More than 93,500 complaints were about rubbish being dumped in gardens or private alleyways, while 46,539 complaints were related to nuisance pets including dangerous animals or vast numbers of pets being kept at properties.

Some 21,090 complaints were about parked vehicles causing disruptions.

The research, which collated Freedom of Information responses from 318 councils across the country, was put together by Churchill Home Insurance.

Fife, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Westminster in London received the most statutory nuisance complaints per head of population in the UK.