The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s removal of parking bays from the road near Mrs X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council delaying the removal of parking bays on her street which she says are too near a junction and present a traffic hazard.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with 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, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X says there are parking bays on the road opposite her home which are placed too near a blind corner for road safety standards. She asked the Council to remove the bays in June 2022 but they had not been removed by September.
The Council told Mrs X that it was working with the business which uses the bays for loading about seeking an alternative site. There is no statutory timescale for a highway authority to remove or amend highway regulations or infrastructure and the matter is a discretionary power which the authority must decide to use.
When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members when there is no fault. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s removal of parking bays from the road near Mrs X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman