Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to follow the right process when introducing new double yellow lines in her area. She also complained about the Council’s failings when responding to her complaint. We found fault with the Council’s consultation process and complaint handling. The Council’s fault caused injustice to Miss X. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, arrange a site visit and present a report to the Chief Officer for Highways and Transportation. The Council has also agreed to tell us how it will improve its complaint handling.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s failure to follow the right process when introducing new double yellow lines in her area. She also says the Council failed to act on its commitment to repeat the consultation process and remove double yellow lines on the road. Miss X also complains about the way the Council handled her complaint.
2. Miss X says the Council’s failings meant she found it more difficult to park nearby her house. She spent much time contacting the Council and was distressed by the Council’s failure to do what it said it would.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. Miss X is complaining about the Council’s process of introducing double yellow lines in her area which goes back to October 2023. She came to us in August 2025. As explained in paragraph four of this decision we would normally investigate anything that happened within 12 months from when the complainant came to us. The 12 months period runs from the day the complainant had notice of the matters complained about. Miss X only found out about the Council’s failings in September 2024, therefore her complaint is in time.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legal and administrative framework

9. The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure)(England and Wales) Regulations 1996 provide framework for the process of making traffic orders.
10. Before making an order councils should:
• publish at least once a notice containing details of the order in a local newspaper;
• take steps they consider appropriate for ensuring that persons likely to be affected by the provisions of the order are aware of it being proposed. These steps may include:
1. publication of a notice in the London Gazette;
2. display of notices in roads or other places affected by the order; or
3. delivery of notices or letters to premises occupied by persons appearing to the council to be affected by any provision in the order.
• send a copy of the notice of proposals to bodies and persons whom it is required to consult;
• make deposited documents available for public inspection throughout the period beginning with the date of the publication of the notice of proposals and ending with the last day of the period of six weeks starting with the date on which the order is made or on which the council decides not to make an order.
11. Any person may object to an order by the date specified in the notice of proposals or the end of 21 days beginning with the date on which the council has complied with all formal requirements. An objection should be made in writing, state the grounds on which it is made and be sent to the address specified in the notice of proposals.
12. Before making an order, the council shall consider:
• all objections made under regulation eight and not withdrawn; and
• if a public inquiry was held, the inspector’s report and any recommendations he made.

What happened

13. At the beginning of October 2023 Miss X received a letter about parking restrictions proposed for the area where she lived. Three days later she wrote to the Council with her concerns and objections. She asked the Council to record these comments and tell her when the Council would issue a formal notice to give her an opportunity to raise formal objections.
14. In early March 2024 Miss X again wrote to the Council. She referred to a notice telling residents of the waiting restrictions proposed in their local area. The code and the link to the website were not working. She asked the Council to send her the plan for traffic changes and the reasons for introducing them. She also referred to her previous objections and noted the Council had failed to respond to them.
15. In the second week of September 2024 the Council introduced new yellow lines on Miss X’s street. Miss X complained. She said the consultation was defective as she had no opportunity to object to the Council’s proposal.
16. Two weeks later the Council acknowledged Miss X’s complaint and said it would respond at the beginning of October 2024.
17. After Miss X’s prompting, the Council apologised for its failure to respond and named a new date for its response in the third week of October.
18. In its complaint response the Council explained that due to the volume of correspondence received at the time as well as several long-term staff absences, it missed both of Miss X’s letters. The Council apologised for this error, which meant that Miss X’s objections were not considered as part of the Traffic Regulation Order procedure. The responding officer suggested the Council could:
• shorten the double yellow lines in Miss X’s street to afford her more parking; or
• if Miss X was seeking a relaxation of the restrictions on the main street the officer would need to prepare and present a report to the Chief Officer for their careful consideration.
19. Miss X was not satisfied with the Council’s response to her complaint. She said shortening double yellow line would not be enough. She was concerned the Council had failed to address the consultation process failings, such as links and codes in the notices not working. This might have prevented others to raise their objections. Miss X asked the Council to refer her case to the Chief Officer for Highways and Transportation and meanwhile to remove the double yellow lines. This is, she said, what the Council’s officer had suggested when she had contacted the Council in early September 2024.
20. A few days later the Council told Miss X her complaint would be responded to at stage two by a senior investigating officer by mid-November 2024.
21. In November and December 2024 Miss X was chasing the Council’s response. The Council responded at stage two in mid-January 2025. The responding officer (the Manager) said the Council:
• would repeat the formal consultation process within six to eight weeks. This would include delivering letters to those properties affected by the proposed restrictions and putting up street notices; and
• would remove the restrictions outside Miss X’s home until the repeated process was complete.
22. In mid-March 2025 Miss X asked the Manager about timescales for completing the actions identified in his stage two complaint response. She stressed the negative impact of the new traffic restrictions on her.
23. A few days later the Manager apologised for the delay in removing the yellow double lines. He had raised this matter again with the contractors and hoped to have a date confirmed within the next few days. The Manager stated the Council staff had been watching parking in Miss X’s area over weekends so they could present a fair and accurate report to the Chief Officer. The Manager intended to present this report within four to six weeks.
24. At the end of March 2025 the Council shortened double yellow lines outside Miss X’s house. In its response to my enquiries the Council explained that it had not removed any other double yellow lines in the area as it had not received any other objections about waiting restrictions.
25. After contacting the Council a few more times Miss X came to us in the second week of August 2025.
26. In its response to my enquiries the Council said that at the end of January 2026 it had sent new consultation letters detailing proposed waiting restrictions. Residents had four weeks to provide comments. As the Council received no responses, at the end of February 2026 the Council’s staff delivered the consultation letters to the affected properties by hand. The Council also sent electronic correspondence to Miss X asking for her views.
27. Miss X explained the Council’s letters from January and February 2026 referred to the changes, which were meant to be temporary when waiting for the results of a new consultation. She confirmed the Council failed to repeat the initial consultation on a traffic order proposal.

Analysis

Traffic order

28. As explained in paragraph 11 of this decision any person should be allowed to object to making a traffic order by the date given in the notice of proposals. Councils should consider all the objections before making traffic orders.
29. The Council failed to give Miss X an opportunity to object as it provided a wrong link and code on the notices and did not respond when Miss X pointed it out. This meant Miss X could not access the website for recording objections to the traffic order proposal.
30. The Council also failed to respond to Miss X’s correspondence from early March 2024 in which she asked it to consider her objections listed in the email from September 2023.
31. The Council’s failings are fault. The Council accepted this in its complaint responses. It caused injustice to Miss X as she could not exercise her right to object to the traffic order. She was distressed the Council was introducing changes which affected her as a local resident but it had failed to consider her views.
32. Responding to my enquiries the Council said it could offer Miss X a site meeting to discuss the reasons for its initial proposal and to understand Miss X’s specific concerns. Following the meeting the Council would decide whether it should take any further action.

Complaint handling

33. There are several stages of the Council’s process for handling corporate complaints:
• complaint acknowledgement – five working days;
• stage one – the Council will aim to respond within ten working days of the acknowledgement. If this is not possible, the Council will provide regular updates at least every two weeks; and
• stage two – a senior officer will respond within 20 working days. If this is not possible, the Council will provide regular updates at least every two weeks.
34. The Council delayed responding to Miss X’s complaint at all stages:
• acknowledgement – the Council acknowledged Miss X’s complaint after two weeks;
• at stage one – it said it would respond at the beginning of October 2024 but failed to do so. Only after Miss X’s further correspondence it said it would response at some later date; and
• at stage two – the Council told Miss X it would respond to her complaint by mid-November 2024. Throughout November and December 2024 Miss X kept contacting the Council about its response. The Council responded in mid-January 2025.
35. In its stage two complaint response the Council told Miss X it would:
• repeat the formal consultation process within six to eight weeks. In spring and summer 2025 Miss X regularly contacted the Council asking for updates and came to us in August 2025. The Council sent new consultations letters at the end of January 2026. There was a delay of over ten months in completing this action;
• temporarily remove the double yellow lines outside Miss X’s house. It shortened double yellow lines outside Miss X’s house a few days after Miss X contacted the Council in mid-March 2025.
36. The Council’s delays, some of them significant, in responding to Miss X’s complaint and completing the actions identified in its responses are fault. They caused frustration to Miss X, who had to wait longer than necessary to resolve the issues she had raised. She was also distressed that, although the Council had accepted its failing and identified suitable remedies, it failed to complete them within reasonable timeframes. Miss X spent much time contacting the Council and asking for updates.
37. The wording of the Council’s stage two response suggested the Council would be repeating the consultation process carried out before introducing the traffic order in Miss X’s area. This did not happen as the Council’s consultation letters from the early 2026 referred only to the shortening of the double yellow lines, which happened after Miss X complained. This was misleading and caused further distress to Miss X.

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Action

38. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council complete within four weeks of the final decision the following:
• apologise to Miss X for the injustice caused to her by the faults identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended;
• a senior member of staff, who has had no prior involvement with the case, will meet with Miss X at the site to discuss the Council’s reasons for the initial proposal and to understand Miss X’s specific concerns. The Council will provide us with the notes from this meeting;
• pay Miss X £100 to recognise extra time and trouble spent on complaining because of the Council’s fault.
39. Within eight weeks the Council will prepare a report mentioned in the Council’s complaint responses and present it to the Chief Officer for Highways and Transportation. Among documents presented to the Chief Officer for Highways and Transportation the Council will include Miss X’s emails of 9 October 2023 and 7 March 2024 and her letter of 23 March 2026 as well as her complaints and the Council’s responses. The Council will provide the evidence it has done so.
40. We publish the Complaint Handling Code which sets out best practice in how councils should deal with complaints. In this case, we found the Council at fault because it delayed responding to Miss X’s complaint and failed to do what it had said it would do. In order to prevent similar faults from happening in future, the Council within three months of this decision should consider our guidance and tell us what action(s) it will take to improve the way it deals with complaints.

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Decision

41. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is at an end.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman