The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about an increase in the amount of the charges for permits to park in a controlled parking zone. This is because the complaint is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council increased the cost of parking permits for the controlled parking zone (CPZ) he lives in without consulting residents and for schemes which are unrelated to the CPZ. He wants the Council to reduce the cost and use the proceeds solely for the purposes of managing the CPZ.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council increased the amount of its charges with effect from April 2023. Mr X would have been aware of the increase at the time and complained to the Council about it in October 2023. He brought his complaint to us in March 2025, almost two years after he first became aware of the issue. His complaint is therefore late.
The Council accepts it delayed in dealing with the complaint under its complaints procedure but it did respond to Mr X and his MP, whom he asked to assist him in the matter, between October 2023 and July 2024. The Council’s responses were consistent in explaining the reasons for the increases and did not indicate at any point that it would reverse its decision to increase the charges.
Although the Council issued a final response to the complaint in February 2025 our time limit runs from the date Mr X first had notice of the matter complained about and not the date of the Council’s final response. I do not therefore consider this provides good reason to investigate the complaint outside our usual timescales and I have seen nothing else in the information provided by Mr X to warrant exercising my discretion to investigate the issue now.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to bring it to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman