Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about road obstructions and parking enforcements. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms B says there are obstructions to the road, walkway and her driveway because of lack of pavements.
2. Ms B says the Council did not deal with her concerns and complaint in a timely manner.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information Ms B provided and the Council’s response to it. I issued a draft decision to Ms B and invited comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

5. Ms B complains about cars and vans parking and obstructing her driveway, the road and footway. Ms B says this is because there are no pavements on the road. Ms B says this causes hazards and she wants the Council to take enforcement action over the parking problem.
6. The Council says there are no formal parking restrictions in place for the road Ms B complains about, so it has no enforcement powers to stop vehicles from parking on the road. The Council says it is a matter for the police and it has put forward a request to the police to consider.
7. The Council is responsible for Civil Parking Enforcement about areas which have designated signage and parking restrictions. Parking on public roads with no restrictions is a matter for the police as a matter of road traffic law. It is not a council function.
8. Ms B also complains the Council did not deal with her concerns and complaint in a timely manner. The Council has apologised to Ms B for its delay in responding to her concerns. If the Ombudsman is not investigating the matter in a complaint, we will not separately consider the way the Council responded to it.
9. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant the Ombudsman investigating this matter and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms B wants.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman