Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council’s refusal of her application to buy an area of Council land. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains the Council has refused her application to purchase an area of Council owned land next to her home. Mrs B says the Council did not apply Council policy when considering her application. Mrs B says she would like to use this land to reduce on street parking congestion.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs B. This includes the Council’s Policy for Disposal of Public Open Space to Private Individuals. In this statement I have referred to this as the Council’s Policy.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council’s Policy says there is a presumption against disposal of public open space for private use. The Policy says occasionally there may be exceptional circumstances which should be taken into account when considering applications. The Policy lists the exceptional circumstances the Council will consider.
7. In response to Mrs B’s complaint the Council explained the consultation it undertook to assess her application.
8. The Council explained why in the opinion of professional officers there were not exceptional circumstances which would justify selling this area of land. This included consideration of whether the sale of this land would help highway safety.
9. I have not seen any information to suggest there was fault in the way the Council reached this decision. The Council consulted relevant departments and applied the relevant section of its Policy to Mrs B’s application.
10. Mrs B disagrees with the Council’s judgement that the sale of the land was not justified. But, unless there was fault in the way the Council considered Mrs B’s application, we cannot say the Council should have made a different decision.
11. The Council has apologised to Mrs B for not providing reasons for its decision in response to her appeal. This was a suitable response from the Council and the Council has now explained its decision in response to Mrs B’s complaint. So, further involvement by the Ombudsman is not justified.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman