Cumbria County Council (22 017 336)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Apr 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to move a streetlight. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- The complainant, I shall call Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision not to move a streetlight outside her home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by Ms X, including the Council’s responses to her complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X’s partner has a work van which he used to park on the street with a resident’s parking permit.
- Ms X says the Council changed its policy and vans exceeding 1830mm in height are no longer eligible for a parking permit. Her partner now must park his van on their driveway. However, Ms X says that because of the position of a streetlight on the pavement, the van blocks her car in. She cannot drive her partner’s van and is concerned that she may not be able to get her car out in an emergency.
- The Council has confirmed that it has no plans to move the streetlight. However, it will do so if Ms X pays for the work.
- I understand the new arrangements are inconvenient for Ms X. However, the Council is not obliged to pay to facilitate Ms X’s parking on her private drive.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation is unlikely to fond fault in the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman