Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a problem with pavement parking that Mr X reported to it. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and Mr X is not caused a significant personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s actions have not prevented a problem with pavement parking in an area of his town which makes it difficult for pedestrians to use pavements and restricts visibility at a road junction.

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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, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The Council recognises there is a problem with parking at the location and has taken various steps to try to address it. It recognises that the issue continues and has identified a main source of the problem and is considering ways to tackle it. It has, however, advised Mr X that introducing any new parking restrictions or physical measures to prevent nuisance parking will take time and will be subject to budget constraints.
6. The Council has considered the problem and taken action and is looking at other ways to tackle it. I have not seen an indication of significant fault by the Council and we cannot investigate just because Mr X remains unhappy. Additionally, while Mr X raises a valid complaint, the impact of the parking situation on him personally, from our perspective, is not serious enough to warrant our further involvement.
7. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or of a serious injustice to Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman