Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to let him use its land as a parking space. This is because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant further investigation and we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly consider his request to use a verge as a parking space. He says he offered to pay for this, and it would reduce the distance he needs to walk. He wants the Council to appoint an independent surveyor to consider his request.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X lives near land owned by the Council. He says parking on his road is difficult. He asked the Council to consider allowing him to use its land as a parking space.
6. In response to his request, the Council considered selling or leasing the land to Mr X or varying the easement. The Council decided it did not wish to sell the land or alter access to it. It said the value of the land would not cover its costs, and a sale could set a precedent for similar requests..
7. I understand Mr X is disappointed by the Council’s decision. However, the Council is entitled to decide whether it sells the land it owns or grants access to it. Its refusal has not left him in a worse position because he did not previously have a right to use the land for parking. We therefore cannot say the refusal caused him a significant personal injustice. We will not investigate this complaint.
8. Mr X wants the Council to appoint an independent surveyor to consider his request. We cannot require the Council to appoint a surveyor or grant him rights over the land. Further investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome for Mr X.
9. Mr X complains about the way the Council dealt with his complaint, including delays in the process. We do not investigate councils’ complaint handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not investigate this part of the complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant further investigation and we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman