Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about excessive parking outside her home. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating and an investigation by the Ombudsman would not add any further meaningful outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to take reasonable steps to address her reports of vehicles and excessive parking outside her home.
2. Mrs X said this meant she was frequently unable to park outside her home. She wanted the Council to implement measures and amend the Controlled Parking Zone restrictions to mitigate the impact on her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs X complained to the Council about excessive parking and vehicles with removed licence plates on her road during event days, which she said was preventing her from being able to park outside her home.
7. The Council considered and responded to Mrs X’s concerns and took numerous steps to address the issues, including:
• discussing Mrs X’s concerns with its enforcement and parking policy teams;
• providing Mrs X with the link to report abandoned vehicles for prompt removal;
• arranging for regular Civil Enforcement Officer patrols and badge checks to be conducted and Penalty Charge Notices to be issued where appropriate;
• inviting Mrs X to submit a formal request for a review of the Controlled Parking Zone with its parking projects team;
• prioritising enforcement on event days, and
• referring Mrs X’s suggestions to its Highways Team for consideration.
8. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating this matter. It has taken steps to mitigate the impact on Mrs X and provided her with further steps she can take to achieve her desired outcome.
9. There is no further meaningful outcome the Ombudsman could achieve for Mrs X, so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating and an investigation by the Ombudsman would not add any further meaningful outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman