Brighton & Hove City Council (23 013 419)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Jan 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about information provided by the Council about its intention to introduce further controlled parking zones in its area. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains was not open and honest about its intentions with regard to implementing more controlled parking zones (CPZs). He says he has spent a lot of time trying to get responses from the Council about the issue.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
- It is clearly frustrating for Mr X to receive information he considers conflicts with previous statements made by the Council about CPZs but this did not cause him significant injustice.
- If the Council decides to proceed with further CPZs which affect him personally he may object to them and if he considers it has not followed the proper process to introduce them, he may challenge the Council’s actions at court. But at this stage Mr X’s complaint is about the information he has received regarding its intentions and this does not warrant investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman