Brighton & Hove City Council (22 014 450)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 May 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council consulted on a controlled parking zone. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council was undemocratic in how it consulted on a controlled parking zone (CPZ). He said the introduction of a CPZ would affect when people came and visited him. He wants the Council to stop the scheme.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
- 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, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council consulted on a CPZ. The Council consulted with residents about introducing a parking scheme in 2019. It consulted further in 2022 about the design of the scheme. It said that following mostly positive feedback it applied for a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) in February 2023. It advertised the TRO in a local newspaper and it placed notices to lampposts. Given the Council has followed the correct procedure for consultation, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify out involvement.
- In any event we would not investigate further. That is because any potential injustice claimed by Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman