The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to apply its own parking standards when it approved a planning application in 2018. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council approved a planning application for a development which includes 30 off-street visitor parking spaces without any provision for disabled parking. He says the Council failed to apply its own parking standards policy.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and information available on the Council's website.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the Council failed to follow its own policy which requires plans to include a disabled parking bay or at least a space of sufficient size.
The Council approved the planning application in 2018. It assessed the application against its adopted local plan. This local plan dated 2017 did not include a requirement for providing disabled parking spaces for visitors.
The Council has since adopted a Local Plan Review in 2021. This requires it to assess new residential developments against the local county council’s interim guidance on parking. This guidance was updated in 2025. It states any new development that “includes off-street parking should have at least one parking space that is either designated as disabled, or if it is not specifically designated, is of sufficient size to be used by a disabled person”.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. There was no requirement for disabled parking spaces for visitors when the planning application he refers to was approved in 2018.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman