West Sussex County Council (24 013 269)
Category : Transport and highways > Parking and other penalties
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 03 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his application to extend his dropped kerb. This is because the Council has reconsidered Mr X’s application and agreed to the extension he wanted and this provides a suitable remedy for the complaint.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his application to extend his dropped kerb and about its consideration of his appeal against its decision.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X has an existing dropped kerb providing access from the public highway to his driveway. He applied to the Council to extend his dropped kerb to 6.4m wide so he could park additional cars on the driveway.
- The Council agreed to extend Mr X’s dropped kerb but limited the width of the extension to only 4.5m. Mr X was unhappy with the decision and appealed against it, but the Council dismissed his appeal. It said the decision to limit the extension complied with its guidance and it could not agree to extend the dropped kerb further.
- The Council now accepts it made a mistake in dealing with Mr X’s application and has agreed to extend the existing dropped kerb up to 6.4m as Mr X wanted. It has also agreed to provide refresher training to officers involved in the case to ensure its guidance is applied correctly. It will do this within four weeks of this decision.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s agreed actions provide a suitable remedy for the complaint and it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Mr X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman