Leeds City Council (24 010 631)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Nov 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about disabled parking bays because we would not achieve the outcome Ms X is seeking.
The complaint
- Ms X complains about a lack of disabled parking spaces in a commercial area. She says not being able to park close enough to the businesses caused an injury and that she would like more parking spaces.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 or continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council advised that planning consent for the current use of the site was approved over 12 months ago and therefore did not investigate Ms X’s complaint.
- The plans for the development, which included parking provision, have been approved and work on the development has concluded. I cannot instruct the Council to revoke planning permission and I would not be able to achieve the outcome sought by Ms X of creating more disabled parking bays. I will therefore not investigate this complaint.
- I will not investigate the part of Ms X’s complaint relating to injury. It is reasonable for Ms X to take this matter to a court which would be better placed to handle this matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks and any injury liability is more appropriate to be considered by the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman