Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to remove a section of yellow line on the road close to the complainant’s home. There is not enough evidence of fault in the process the Council followed before deciding to remove the yellow line.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X complains the Council failed to follow the correct procedure before removing parking restrictions in the road close to his home. He says:
• the plans were inaccurate
• the Council failed to admit its errors
• the Council failed to communicate in any helpful way; and
• refuses to make any effort to properly understand or resolve the resulting problem its actions have caused
2. Mr X says the removal of the line allows people to park close to his dropped kerb causing difficulties when he exits/enters his drive.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I understand Mr X is in complete disagreement with the Council’s decision to remove a yellow line parking restriction from the road outside his neighbour’s properties. However, from the information I have seen, the Council followed the statutory consultation process. It was also aware of the location of the line being considered for removal.
7. Evidence shows Mr X responded to the consultation; however, he did not raise any concerns that removing the line would cause him problems when entering or exiting his drive.
8. The report to the relevant Cabinet Member, includes a copy of Mr X’s response to the consultation which was the only response received. The scheme was approved. There is not enough evidence of fault in the process by which the decision was made to justify an investigation on this point.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. We have seen no evidence of fault in the process the Council followed before making the decision to remove the yellow line parking restriction in the road where he lives.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman