Council officers in Northumberland have praised the impact of the Fix My Street pothole reporting system three years after its introduction. Since 2023, more than 140,000 reports have been submitted through the platform.
The system allows residents to report potholes, fly-tipping, and other issues directly to the appropriate council teams. Over 75% of reports come from the public.
Public reporting doubles
Speaking at Monday's meeting of the council's communities and place scrutiny committee, environment director Paul Jones said: "There has been a massive shift in terms of the public being actively involved in reporting things - because it's much easier to do that." He added: "It's gone from 22,000 reports to over 50,000 - we've doubled the amount of public reporting. The top reported categories are potholes and fly tipping."
Coun Alan Smith questioned whether the increase placed extra demands on services. "I'm very impressed by how effective this is, but looking at the increased number of calls you're getting, do you get enough resources to meet demand? Are you getting overwhelmed, or are you able to manage?"
Resources and winter spikes
Mr Jones replied: "There has been a significant increase in demand without much change in resource. You expect there to be a spike in winter of highways maintenance issues. We would get that anyway, the fact that we have got a good reporting system doesn't change that. It does enable us to target resources more effectively and gives us the evidence to be able to go back to cabinet and say we need more resources in this area. Where there's pressure, it is obvious - and it is then how to respond to that."
Cabinet member for highways Coun Mark Mather added: "We have had Fix My Street for over three years now. It has come a long way. For me, it's a great way of getting good information to the correct teams. We have seen that through events like Storm Arwen. It's been really effective. How far it has come is really a testament to the whole team."
