Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in responding to Mr X’s request for local parking restrictions to be applied to alleviate dangerous parking near his home. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has remedied the delay by responding to the requests.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to respond to his request for parking restrictions to be applied on the road where he lives. He says inconsiderate parking near his access poses a risk to traffic and pedestrians due to lack of visibility. He asked for works to be considered in November 2023 but did not receive a response until June 2024.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X wrote to the Council in November 2023 to ask for parking restrictions such as yellow lines to be added to the highway outside his driveway. He told it that inconsiderate parking by neighbours and visitors caused a hazard for traffic and pedestrians when he used his drive access. He received an acknowledgement that the matter would be responded to by the end of December.
6. He did not receive a reply from the Council and in response to his emails only received generic responses that the Council had a high level of enquiries about highway matters causing delays. He complained to us in May 2024 and, following our initial enquiries, he received a response from the Council in June.
7. The Council apologised for its failure to deal with his enquiries within a reasonable time and says that it has put resources in place to improve public contact. The Council advised him that it has added the request to its list of traffic order requests which is subject to budgetary considerations. It has advised Mr X to seek support from his local councillor on the issue. For a traffic order to be put forward under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 provisions the highway authority has to be satisfied it meets the threshold for legal changes to the highway regulations.
8. It is clear that there was considerable delay in dealing with Mr X’s request for traffic regulation works. The Council has apologised and responded to his satisfaction. We cannot determine if his request for an order will be successful as traffic orders are at the discretion of the highway authority which has to prioritise them according to its resources.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in responding to Mr X’s request for local parking restrictions to be applied to alleviate dangerous parking near his home. We will not investigate this complaint because the Council has remedied the delay by responding to the requests.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman