Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to answer a query he raised about resident only parking schemes. We will not investigate the complaint because there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council failed to answer a query he raised about its policy on the provision of local resident only parking schemes and whether it would veto any schemes proposed for his area by the County Council. He says he has health and safety concerns related to the lack of such a scheme for his area.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I spoke to Mr X and reviewed the information he and the Council provided. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

4. Mr X has made previous complaints to the Ombudsman about the County Council’s failure to use money obtained under a 2014 s106 agreement (connected to the grant of planning permission) not being used for a residents parking scheme along Mr X’s road.
5. In connection with the above issue, Mr X recently sought to establish from the Council whether it would veto any proposals the County Council might make for a parking scheme in his area.
6. He made an FOI request for information about local residents only parking schemes to the Council. It responded and explained it is not able to install residents parking schemes anywhere in Mr X’s area and that it only has one such scheme which was set up and operated by the County Council. The Council explained it is not yet accredited with the powers of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) and that no further schemes will be considered in Mr X’s area until it has CPE powers. It said it did not have any policy preventing such schemes and that for any future schemes to be introduced the Council will be required to obtain CPE status.
7. Dissatisfied because the information he received did not sufficiently clarify his concerns, Mr X complained to us.
8. I asked the Council to comment on Mr X’s contention that it will veto any County Council proposed scheme and it responded by stating the issue was not one of veto but rather enforceability. It said the Council cannot implement CPE without the input of the County Council acting as the Highways Authority. However, the latest position is that the Council’s Executive has now resolved to support an application to the Department for Transport for CPE powers.

Assessment

9. Mr X’s earlier complaints to the Ombudsman have related to the 2014 s106 undertaking and residents parking. These have previously been addressed and will not be reconsidered here.
10. The Council has responded to Mr X’s FOI request and provided further clarification on its position, including that it will be applying for CPE powers this year.
11. Mr X says he is concerned about health and safety issues caused by vehicles parking in his road and a service road nearby. However, his injustice is not at a level sufficient to warrant investigation.
12. In responding to my draft decision Mr X has again referred to the 2014 undertaking and what had been agreed about parking at the time. However, as explained, this matter will not be revisited. Moreover, Mr X asks us to make requests of the Council in connection with providing a residents parking scheme but such a remedy is not one we could seek even if we were to investigate.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman