Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to remove on-street parking due to the introduction of a traffic management scheme. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. There is insufficient evidence of any fault in the implementation of the scheme which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council removing on-street parking by introducing waiting restrictions in the form of double yellow lines. She says she has no driveway or off-street parking so this has caused problems for her being able to park conveniently.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Ms X says the Council has removed on-street parking on the road where she lives without proper consultation with residents. The Council has restricted parking by introducing double yellow lines.
7. The Council is the highway authority and any introduction of parking restrictions requires a traffic management order (TMO) for the changes to be legal and enforceable. The Council carried out consultation for the order relating to this project in September -October 2024. This was the point when any residents could make their objections to the authority. The Council’s cabinet approved the order to be made in March 2025 and this has been completed with the changes to go ahead.
8. The time for Ms X to make any objections was more than 12 months before he complained to us. We will not investigate the introduction of the scheme now because it is outside the timescale for receiving complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.
9. We have some discretion to consider older complaints but in this case even if Ms X had complained to us when the order was proposed we could not have intervened in the legal process. She could have used his right to object to the scheme at the time but under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 there is no duty on a highway authority to change its decision, regardless of objections from residents.

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Final decision

10. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to remove on-street parking due to the introduction of a traffic management scheme. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. There is insufficient evidence of any fault in the implementation of the scheme which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman