Grumpy Central
Scared of Chives has just sent me a website where you can moan about something street-related in your area and they'll pass it onto the council for you.
Fix My Street is aimed at those irritating things that make life a little more annoying - loose paving stones, dumped mattresses, duff streetlights etc. If you type in "SE10," you'll see a lot of the like, usually with a little note saying how many minutes it took Fix My Street to alert the council about the issue.
Thing is, I've found it takes the same few minutes to alert Cleansweep directly, and, as far as I can see from Fix My Street's SE10 entries (which mainly seem to be on the Peninsula, for some reason) they have about the same level of success as I've had with direct contact. Some things are fixed, some are ignored, some are old, some are ongoing. Fix My Street alert the council - but don't, as far as I can see, follow anything up - it's up to the individual concerned. So if that's the case - why not just cut out the middle-site and go straight to the council?
I guess it's another thorn in the council's side, and a slightly more public one than an email to Cleansweep. And perhaps the reason why most of the alerts seem to be on the peninsula is that Cleansweep tends to be open during office hours when most of the people in MV are at work, and at least a website never closes (though an email is eventually sent into exactly the same ether...)
Has anyone used Fix My Street and found it to be more effective than the Council's own alert-system? I am prepared to hear that it's brilliant - in which case I'll add it to the links section...
Fix My Street is aimed at those irritating things that make life a little more annoying - loose paving stones, dumped mattresses, duff streetlights etc. If you type in "SE10," you'll see a lot of the like, usually with a little note saying how many minutes it took Fix My Street to alert the council about the issue.
Thing is, I've found it takes the same few minutes to alert Cleansweep directly, and, as far as I can see from Fix My Street's SE10 entries (which mainly seem to be on the Peninsula, for some reason) they have about the same level of success as I've had with direct contact. Some things are fixed, some are ignored, some are old, some are ongoing. Fix My Street alert the council - but don't, as far as I can see, follow anything up - it's up to the individual concerned. So if that's the case - why not just cut out the middle-site and go straight to the council?
I guess it's another thorn in the council's side, and a slightly more public one than an email to Cleansweep. And perhaps the reason why most of the alerts seem to be on the peninsula is that Cleansweep tends to be open during office hours when most of the people in MV are at work, and at least a website never closes (though an email is eventually sent into exactly the same ether...)
Has anyone used Fix My Street and found it to be more effective than the Council's own alert-system? I am prepared to hear that it's brilliant - in which case I'll add it to the links section...
Labels: Services
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:14
24 Comments:
Your neighbours over at Lewisham Council have a nifty service that has won awards.
Take a photo of the problem - send it from your phone to their website. They then do the necessary and upload the details to the website so people can track how quickly (and successfully) they carry out the work.
http://www.lovelewisham.org/Public/Images.aspx
Fix My Street enables the rest of the public to monitor how effective the council is at following up complaints - if you go straight to the council, it tends to disappear in a black hole of officialdom never to be seen again. That's why I use it, because it forces a measure of accountability onto a council which usually runs a mile from it.
The results are only as good as dealing with the council - very slow, generally.
Love Lewisham's been a huge success - unfortunately Greenwich don't regard this kind of thing as a priority (and I have asked them).
Maybe they could use the cash they save when Greenwich Time finally bites the dust to create an effective site? (I refer to your blog entry a couple of days ago...)
http://853blog.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/times-up-for-greenwich-time/
Heh. I wouldn't rule out GT breaking even, actually, but whatever it's still a waste of time and paper, and *probably* money.
The way I've found with Greenwich Council is that direct contact with officers trumps using its contact centre every time - and telephoning them trumps e-mailing them.
Generally something will sit in an e-mail pile at the contact centre for two days, then be passed onto Cleansweep where it'll sit in their pile for two days. Then something might be done, but you won't be told about it.
If you can get an officers' name, you can jump the queue a bit. But you do need to go through the charade of using the contact centre first. Happened to me this morning - I've got neighbours who block the pavement with their bins; one direct e-mail to a councillor produced a plan of action which five e-mails to the contact centre did not.
It's a crap system and desperately needs updating to make it a bit more user-focused.
Sorry, that was one direct e-mail to *an officer*, not a councillor - haven't needed to drag them into it this time around (although that can work too).
Ah, Cleansweep - known affectionately to most Greenwich residents (and quite a few Council staff) by its slightly amended tagline: "Cleansweep - one call does eff all".
I contacted cleansweep two weeks ago about litter and flytipping on Troughton Road in SE7 - I got an acknowledgement with the promise that somebody from Cleansweep would be in contact shortly. That seems to be about the total action taken so far.
It would be nice to know who the Head of Environmental Services at the Council is and ask them what is so difficult about organising their workload to make sure residents don't have to complain in the first place?
Also bearing in mind Cllr Roberts boast that nobody in Greenwich Council earns less than £17k pa (plus all the Council's benefits), what exactly are we getting in return for this generosity with our money?
Charlie,
Heather Lunney , Lead Enviromental Health Officer
heather.lunney@greenwich.gov.uk
Howzzat?
I've a feeling the budget for roadsweeping has been cut over the years - Charlton's definitely a lot scruffier and Blackheath Standard's downright filthy at times. Haven't got any figures to back this up, though.
Oh, and Charlie...
Also bearing in mind Cllr Roberts boast that nobody in Greenwich Council earns less than £17k pa (plus all the Council's benefits), what exactly are we getting in return for this generosity with our money?
... you reckon council staff don't deserve a decent wage, then? Interesting.
Hmm...I wonder if Lewisham would have to clear so many dumped mattresses if they re-introduced free bulky refuse collection.
£17k Hardly a pricely sum, considering how important we think the the job is !
Thanks Benedict.
"... you reckon council staff don't deserve a decent wage, then? Interesting."
Not quite, 853: I believe council staff who perform well should be rewarded fairly. I also believe that £17k pa plus benefits is a generous reward in its own right. I base that opinion on figures for pay and reward that the local market sets.
Of course it is possible to disagree with my comparison, or disagree with what is exactly meant by a "decent wage".
But that detracts from the point that I was trying to make that whatever the cost of providing a service (as Dave says, it's an important service, so perhaps it would be sensible to be rewarding improved performance), there should be a return that is an agreeable proportion to the investment you make - basically, that it offers good value.
In short, it is my opinion that the council doesn't offer good value.
Charlie Easton..." in my opinion the council does not offer good value"
The council as an organisation may not offer good value , but it does not necessarily follow that its employees do not.
How many reading and writing posts on here are in full time employment, and earn less than £17k ?
Well, I can add one to the count. I earn less than £17k pa and work full time.
I don't see how the amount any of us earn has any bearing on whether Greenwich Council (or its employees) offer good value though.
I definitely agree with 853blog - street cleaning standards have declined in our area of Charlton. The gutters have not been swept in so many weeks that there's foot high weeds growing in the mud that's accumulated. (I'll send you a picture with my new camera if someone tells me how to do it). They used to be swept regularly every Tuesday morning, but I no longer see anyone doing the job.
I have a strong suspicion that the areas that get swept are those which are due for external inspection to ensure the Council is meeting its performance targets. If you're in one of these wards that's selected you're OK - the rest get ignored.
I complained to Cleansweep via email some time ago about dog s**t on the pavement outside. Although it was acknowledged, no action was taken and I eventually gave up after 2 weeks and cleaned it up myself - perhaps I should get a refund on my council tax?
Well, if the Phantom doesn't mind me saying this... Valley Girl, drop me an e-mail (go to my blog, click on "about 853" on the right hand side) if you want to get a photo sorted and we can work together on this - the neglect of Charlton is something that needs sorting out.
The problem's structural within the council - it just simply isn't equipped, physically or in its work culture, to deal with enquiries from individual residents who don't know the system or aren't part of a friendly residents' organisation.
Incidentally, the minimum London Living Wage, endorsed by Boris Johnson, is £7.60/hour, which works out at £17,389 gross for a 44-hour week.
Well if you raise a workers hours they are likely to earn more. aren't they ?
I started work in 1958 and my standard hours as a skilled manual worker were never more than 40 per week ,why should people be expected to work longer now ?
I would suggest that those on the front line are doing a good job on the whole ,whether there is enough of them, or the management is of sufficient quality is another matter.
As others mentioned, using Fix my Street shows publicly how well the council are doing. Here in Tower Hamlets I reported some dumped rubbish and it was removed the next day! I've contacted the council directly and had much worse responses so I'm keen to keep using & supporting the service.
But what about me? My block of flats is accessed by an alleyway between two shops. Its regularly used as a fly tipping area - at the moment we've got an old sofa and six (yes, count them! six!) mattresses. Cleansweep refuse to remove them because they are on "private property", so any removal would be charged to me (and only me because I reported it, so the other tenants end up getting this done for free). I told Cleansweep that I'd be quite happy to drag them onto the pavement the night before the trucks came round so that they could be removed, and was then told that I would be charged with fly tipping.....
Classic "you couldn't make it up" stuff, Capability.......
Fix my Street is a noble idea, but unfortunately it only adds another link , and potential delay, in a message getting to the right person and (hopefully) being dealt with.
The concept could be effective if all council's signed up to common standards and agreed to share a single IT system for dealing with reports about litter from residents and reporting back on action taken
The "love Lewisham" site is more comprehensive, but still only accounts for action taken on problems reported through the love Lewisham process... problems reported by phone or letter
Just contacted `Fix my street` after watching a council driver on Hare street in Woolwich empty the `Recyclables` and `Litter` into the same unseparated area on his van. First time I`ve seen this for myself and proof that the greenwash accusations against Greenwich council are true.
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