The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about parking issues and the speed limit in her local area. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council, and further investigation would not add to the Council’s response.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about traffic hold ups at a local junction due to parking bays on the street outside a chip shop and the speed limit in the village. Mrs X would like additional parking bays put in, the existing parking bays moved, and the speed limit reduced to 20 miles per hour (mph).
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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(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
The Council has investigated the complaint Mrs X raises about the parking bays and double yellow lines outside a chip shop and her home. The Council’s response confirmed the double yellow lines and parking bays were installed following a statutory consultation process and the bays were created retaining the passage of traffic while providing parking for a local business. The Council confirmed the traffic flow is much better than when there were no restrictions on the road but acknowledges there will some congestion due to the nature of the road and junction. There is not enough evidence of fault from the actions taken by the Council and further investigation would not add to this response.
The Council has confirmed in its response to Mrs X, the parish Council has highlighted the village to be considered for a reduction in speed and has now submitted plans for the local speed limit to be reduced to 20mph. Further investigation by the Ombudsman could not add to this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and further investigation by the Ombudsman’s unlikely to add to the Council’s response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman