The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to sell land it owns because there is not enough personal injustice caused to Mrs X to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to sell several plots of land it owns including one which operates as a car park for the public to use. Mrs X said she uses the car park when she attends the nearby church. Mrs X does not want the Council to sell the land.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X said she attends a church which has a private car park she can use however, Mrs X prefers to use the nearby Council-owned car park. Mrs X said the community also uses the Council-owned car park. The Council sold the car park with a condition that it continued to operate as a car park until the church car park becomes available to the public by 2026.
Mrs X also said the Council should not sell two other lots of land, one of which contains protected trees.
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as there is not enough personal injustice caused to Mrs X by the Council selling its land to warrant an investigation. Furthermore, Mrs X still has access to a car park when she attends the church.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough personal injustice caused to Mrs X to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman