Overflowing bins biggest grievance for residents
Bins that are full to bursting are Bath residents’ biggest bugbear. That’s according to analysis of data from Fixmystreet, a website where residents can easily lodge complaints about problems that need attention from their council. Of the latest 1,000 complaints posted on Fixmystreet to Bath and North East Somerset Council this year, 187 of them were about bins that needed emptying. One angry resident wrote: “Bins overflowing yet again, fed up of texting the number on bins every week to get them emptied.” Fly-tipping was the second biggest concern, attracting 13 per cent of the most recent 1,000 complaints (128 in total), with many people reporting waste on public footpaths and private property. One resident wrote: “In the last few months, we keep having to clear dirty disposable nappies and wipes from our garden that have been dragged there by a local fox.” Some 83 cases of obstructive vegetation were open on Fixmystreet at the time - making it the third most complained about issue overall. One resident complained about plants interfering with their cricket game, writing: “Cricket pitch grass hasn’t been cut for a while, can’t actually play cricket on it!” It is unclear whether the council resolved that issue, although many of the bins and fly-tipping incidents had been attended to. The fourth most complained about issue was excessive or dangerous littering (82 complaints), and the fifth was road damage, including potholes (60 complaints). There were 22 counts of dead animals, including seagulls, badgers and foxes, and six occasions where people found needles. Myf Nixon, communications manager at mysociety (the company behind Fixmystreet) said that the system helps bring transparency to council work. She said: “This has a number of benefits: first, it’s easy to see if something has been reported before, so citizens don’t waste the council’s time if they already know about an issue. “Second, the site has built up into an archive of historic issues, meaning that researchers, councils, local residents and perhaps even those thinking of purchasing a house in an area, can check to see what the recurrent problems are and how efficiently they are fixed. “Thirdly, we think that publishing reports in this way helps to hold local authorities to account, as it is clear what they have or haven’t been able to deal with. “Then finally, it’s also a great way for councils to show the normally hidden work they do in keeping areas clean, functional and safe.”
...these reports help to hold local authorities to account