Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not consulting with Mr X regarding the removal of a parking order. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that he and other residents were not consulted regarding the removal of a parking order. He says the Council should have consulted to establish a parking permit scheme. Mr X says the removal of the order has left him with no protection against unauthorised parking by non-residents. He wants the Council to reinstate the parking order, implement a parking scheme and for a sign to be put in place.

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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 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council says it followed the statutory process before removing the parking order. It published a notice of proposal in the local newspaper and displayed notices in car parks across the district. Mr X objected and the Council considered his objections. The Council removed the order after taking legal advice. It says the order allowed the introduction of permit schemes, but no permit scheme was in place. It considered it was poor practice for the order to include locations without active permit schemes.
6. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. Mr X had the opportunity to object, and the Council considered his objections before reaching its decision. We cannot question the merits of a decision taken without fault in the decision-making process. We will not investigate whether the Council should have consulted on introducing a parking permit scheme because Mr X has complained to us about this issue before, under case 22018053, and I do not consider the issues are separable.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman