Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about car parking near her home. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X wants.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains the Council has failed to limit the use of a car park to residents of nearby flats, as she says was intended when the Council granted planning permission for them more than 60 years ago. The Council has agreed to install bay markings and a disabled parking bay at Miss X’s request but Miss X wants the Council to limit use to residents only and to make restrictions on their use enforceable.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X’s representative (Miss Y) and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. We will not go back to the original grant of planning permission to try to work out what the Council’s were when it granted permission for the flats more than 60 years ago. The car park may have been approved alongside the flats but this doesn’t prove an intention to limit use to residents of the flats only, and because more than 10 years has passed since the flats were built any breach of the planning permission is not now enforceable anyway.
5. The Council has agreed to Miss X’s suggestion of marking parking bays in the car park, including a disabled bay, and putting up signs to advise other motorists that the car park is intended for use by residents only. But it has explained none of these measures are enforceable.
6. The Council is not required to spend further time and resources to introduce enforceable parking restrictions at Miss X’s request and its responses explain the reasons it will not do so. It is therefore unlikely we would find fault by the Council and we cannot say it must do as Miss X would like. It is therefore unlikely further investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Miss X.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman