Summary: The complainant says the Council has broken its promise to open a parkland to the public. We will not investigate this complaint as we cannot consider matters that affect all or most of the people in the Council’s area. Also, we do not consider the complainant has suffered a significant personal injustice and we cannot achieve the outcome he is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, says the Council:
• has denied public access to an area bought with public money; and
• broken promises to provide a play area for children by 2020

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. Mr X can comment on this draft decision.

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What happened

6. Mr X says it promised to create a play area for children and allow the public access to the site.
7. The Council is developing a master plan for the site which includes parkland, play area, housing, and a natural burial ground.
8. We aim to help people where we can, and it is appropriate to do so. However, we cannot investigate every complaint we receive. The law places restrictions on our work.
9. Mr X is frustrated with the Council’s failure to open the parkland to the public. But the law says we cannot investigate complaints which affect all or most of the people in a Council’s area. I consider forbidding public access to the park is an issue which caught by the clause stated in paragraph 3 above.
10. Also, I do not think Mr X has suffered a personal injustice significant enough to warrant an investigation.
11. Finally, Mr X wants the park opened to the public immediately. This is not something we can achieve for him.

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Final decision

12. I will not investigate this complaint because:
• we cannot investigate complaints which affect all or most of the people in the Council’s area
• we do not consider Mr X has suffered a significant personal injustice; and
• we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman