Bristol residents should see a marked improvement in the tackling of city issues such as fly-tipping, graffiti, and broken street lights, thanks to an impressive overhaul of the FixMyStreet app and website. The upgrade allows locals to snap a photo of the issue with their smartphone, where embedded location data will then accurately inform the city council and Bristol Waste crews about the problem’s whereabouts for faster resolution. Bristol Live residents think the solution may simply be for the council to reinstate more frequent refuse collections.
According to a recent environment and sustainability committee meeting, the revamp should mean quicker response times and tidier streets. Those utilising both the Bristol-centric and national FixMyStreet platforms can receive updates on the problem’s status, planned repairs, potential delays, and confirmation of resolution.
In cases where issues don’t fall under the jurisdiction of Bristol City Council, the reports are either automatically forwarded to the appropriate body, such as National Highways, or reporters are redirected to the national website.
Operations director at Bristol Waste Dan Kelly said: “Our street cleansing teams cover more than 500 miles of Bristol’s streets each week, clearing litter, removing weeds and tackling fly-tips.” He further encouraged local engagement by stating: “By residents taking the time to report street issues via FixMyStreet, our dedicated teams can get straight to problem areas, tackling issues as quickly as possible.”
Commenter 6470 says: “I use the system to report dumped waste and never had a problem. It says it will pick up the waste within 3 days and usually there are no problems. But now the council has got involved, I’m not sure. Didn’t the council reorganise the black bin collection times? That didn’t go very well but I’ll wait and see. About rubbish dumping, it’s not just picking up the rubbish, the people who dump it should be taken to court and fined. When was the last time BCC took anyone to court?”
Afternine agrees: “Until suitable deterrents to fly tipping are in place the problem will continue, how about automatic confiscation of any vehicle involved and a £5,000 fine as a starting point?”
Debateable states: “This is not new. I have been using this service regularly for quite a while. It begs the question, do the Greens even know how the council’s internal systems/teams work? The problems arise when the report goes to Bristol Waste. If the fly-tip is on Parks land you end up to-ing and fro-ing between departments. They even get the location wrong even though it is pin pointed on a map. The 3-day turn around is a joke. The fly-tipping I reported 2 weeks ago is still there and in fact has been added to. This is not a one off occurrence.”
HoneyD replies: “I’ve had junk fly-tipped outside my house, I’ve reported it three times now and only half of it has been collected.”
52percent points out: “Treating the symptom, not the cause as usual. If you want to reduce fly-tipping try not to make it impossible to take stuff to the tip!”
Bmw agrees: “Let’s try weekly bin collections?”
Mrgreedy adds: “They don’t listen to complaints now. The app may look trendy but won’t change a thing.”
Do you think the app upgrade will fix fly-tipping or could it be solved with more frequent refuse collections? Have your say in our comments section