THERE has been a dramatic drop in the number of residents' complaints about events at the Hampshire Rose Bowl.

This year Eastleigh Council received 38 complaints and comments compared to 140 in the previous season.

The drop will be music to the ears of Hampshire County Cricket chiefs who secured Test status for the West End stadium on Friday.

Earlier this month they unveiled a £35m plan to transform the Rose Bowl at West End into a state of the art cricket ground with a capacity for 20,000 fans.

A significant proportion of the complaints in the previous season were linked to the Oasis concert and England versus Hampshire clash which accounted for 86 of the 140 received in 2005.

Councillors were today due to discuss a report which reveals how the Rose Bowl has made major steps in becoming a good neighbour.

In the report the council's area co-ordinator Jon Riddell wrote: "Valuable lessons were learned from the 2005 Oasis concert where over 30,000 people attended. The Rose Bowl appear to be seeking concerts with a different audience profile."

He said that the Billy Joel concert which attracted a 10,000 audience, produced no complaints at all.

Communication The latest league table of grumbles showed that parking still topped the list but this year there were only 22 complaints compared to 41 in 2005.

Mr Riddell said: "Only three complaints were received about antisocial behaviour but two in West End village centre are enough to cause concern as they involved aggressive drunken behaviour and urinating in public."

He added: "It is recommended that at future major events the newly appointed police community support officers be deployed to provide public reassurance."

He said that there were a number of factors which had contributed to the substantial reduction in complaints linked to the Hampshire Rose Bowl.

A major ingredient had been the much improved communications between the Rose Bowl's management team, the borough council, the community liaison panel and local residents.

The residents' newsletter, particularly with its individual distribution, is the most important communication made by the Rose Bowl to local residents.

Mr Riddell also said: "The efforts of the Rose Bowl's management team to improve visitor management measures and steward events appears to be having a positive effect."

The Rose Bowl could stage its first Test match in 2010. Hampshire Cricket bosses will apply for an England Test against either the West Indies or Bangladesh in four years' time.