RECYCLING is down but complaints are up at Winchester City Council.

The green action has dropped sharply in the Winchester district, according to new figures.

The percentage of household waste recycled fell from 26.6 per cent in March 2012 to 22.2 per cent last March, the most recent month for which figures are available.

The average in 2013-14 was 23.2 per cent compared to 25 per cent in the previous 12 months.

Councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee heard Winchester was in line with the national trend.

However Cllr Kelsie Learney, Liberal Democrat group leader, disagreed. She said nationally recycling was up to 44.2 per cent a three per cent rise since 2010.

“Winchester has fallen steadily. I don’t think it is good enough. I don’t think it is entirely Winchester’s fault. It is partly down to Hampshire’s failure to expand waste collection in a cost effective way.

“We should be paying attention to this. It is important to local residents. We should be revisiting the way we are collecting our waste.”

The meeting heard that Winchester Action on Climate Change was launching a project to boost recycling this year.

Meanwhile complaints have climbed to 611 in 2013-14, down on 628 in 2012-13 but much higher than the 509 in 2011-12 and 554 in 2010-11.

The biggest single gripe was over bin collection. But committee chairman Chris Pines said the numbers were tiny compared to the weekly collections at the 50,000 households across the district.