Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s refusal to issue a parking permit to park on the street outside her home. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council’s decision not to issue a permit for her to park on the street outside her home. She says the property would have had parking rights previously and it should allow her a permit now.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Mrs X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response and Mrs X has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mrs X bought a building in 2017 which was previously used as office space. She recently converted it to residential accommodation and applied to the Council for a parking permit because there are restrictions on the street where she lives.
5. The Council told her it would not issue a permit because a Traffic Regulation Order was introduced to the area in 2002 to restrict permits to existing occupiers and not to issue any new ones. This was to discourage on-street parking which was in short supply in the area. Mrs X converted her property after the 2002 Order and so the Council would not be able to issue a permit now.
6. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. In this case the Council introduced the Order to limit permit parking and its decision on Mrs X’s application reflects the parking policy in force.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman