Alan Stanton
Google Street View adding value
25 February 2013. At 11:09 am this streetlight in Mayes Road, Wood Green N22 should have been off. It was 'Dayburning' - the term used by lighting staff.
I was with a group of other local councillors seeing the waste and recycling problems on the nearby "Sky City" flats above Wood Green Shopping City. As my camera was handy, a photo was a quick way to record the location and the unique ID number on the column - MY 3 S.
Usually I report streetlights through Haringey's Report a Problem pages - clicking on "steetlighting". Or using the free website FixMyStreet.
But checking the location on Google Street View I saw the same lighting column was 'dayburning' in July 2012. Which suggests either a recurring fault, or that nobody had spotted and reported this one for at least seven months. It should have been obvious.
(Please scroll down to see a screengrab from Google Street View,)
It is true of course, that brutal Government funding cuts forced councils to sack staff. But at some time over the previous seven months someone from Haringey or its contractors walked, cycled, or drove along Mayes Road during daylight.
Haringey needs to rethink fault reporting
Reading this, you may think: "One streetlight on during the day? So what? A waste of energy and money but hardly a priority."
In itself, I agree. But I see it as a symptom of a more serious problem.
A year before, in March 2012 I suggested to Haringey’s Environment Department that it looked afresh at reporting systems for all kinds of streetscene problems including: dumping, damaged pavements, lighting faults, potholes, overgrown bushes etc.
As staff are cut and Haringey Council relies more on residents' reports then it must rethink how to make reporting as widespread as possible; and as simple and easy as possible.
Unless this happens we risk our services being skewed towards better-off areas where people are more likely to send in reports.
One suggestion which I and other residents made to Haringey to improve reporting is to relaunch the Community Volunteer Scheme. It was, in a formerly fashionable term, co-production. A small but successful model of Haringey residents - volunteers from the local communities - working in partnership with the borough council and its contractors.
It is appalling that this scheme was not properly supported and helped not just to continue but expand.
______________________________
§ Google Maps aerial view of where I took this photo.
§ For practical examples of how the Community Volunteer Scheme worked please explore Liz Ixer's photos on Flickr from her work as a Community Volunteer. This links to one set in a huge collection of photos of problems she spotted and reported.
§ I emailed Liz Ixer asking if she'd like any recent links added. She suggested her blog entry on 25 April 2012 about the end of Haringey's Community Volunteer programme. There's a screengrab of the opening paragraphs at the bottom of this page.
Liz also mentioned another of her blog comments about: "how the ability to add pics and get feedback from the council's own site would greatly help reporting (esp as it works pretty well on mobile devices)".
Lastly she added: "that ongoing bugbear, the purple bag of doom but even those seem to be disappearing a bit quicker than they used to. "
§ In 2012 I was told that Haringey was trying out a welcome new initiative - a smartphone app which let staff report problems. This app became available for residents in Autumn 2013. This can help make reporting street faults faster and simpler. It might also widen the gap between better-off and poorer areas if take-up is greater in the former.
§ A helpful link about Co-production.
Google Street View adding value
25 February 2013. At 11:09 am this streetlight in Mayes Road, Wood Green N22 should have been off. It was 'Dayburning' - the term used by lighting staff.
I was with a group of other local councillors seeing the waste and recycling problems on the nearby "Sky City" flats above Wood Green Shopping City. As my camera was handy, a photo was a quick way to record the location and the unique ID number on the column - MY 3 S.
Usually I report streetlights through Haringey's Report a Problem pages - clicking on "steetlighting". Or using the free website FixMyStreet.
But checking the location on Google Street View I saw the same lighting column was 'dayburning' in July 2012. Which suggests either a recurring fault, or that nobody had spotted and reported this one for at least seven months. It should have been obvious.
(Please scroll down to see a screengrab from Google Street View,)
It is true of course, that brutal Government funding cuts forced councils to sack staff. But at some time over the previous seven months someone from Haringey or its contractors walked, cycled, or drove along Mayes Road during daylight.
Haringey needs to rethink fault reporting
Reading this, you may think: "One streetlight on during the day? So what? A waste of energy and money but hardly a priority."
In itself, I agree. But I see it as a symptom of a more serious problem.
A year before, in March 2012 I suggested to Haringey’s Environment Department that it looked afresh at reporting systems for all kinds of streetscene problems including: dumping, damaged pavements, lighting faults, potholes, overgrown bushes etc.
As staff are cut and Haringey Council relies more on residents' reports then it must rethink how to make reporting as widespread as possible; and as simple and easy as possible.
Unless this happens we risk our services being skewed towards better-off areas where people are more likely to send in reports.
One suggestion which I and other residents made to Haringey to improve reporting is to relaunch the Community Volunteer Scheme. It was, in a formerly fashionable term, co-production. A small but successful model of Haringey residents - volunteers from the local communities - working in partnership with the borough council and its contractors.
It is appalling that this scheme was not properly supported and helped not just to continue but expand.
______________________________
§ Google Maps aerial view of where I took this photo.
§ For practical examples of how the Community Volunteer Scheme worked please explore Liz Ixer's photos on Flickr from her work as a Community Volunteer. This links to one set in a huge collection of photos of problems she spotted and reported.
§ I emailed Liz Ixer asking if she'd like any recent links added. She suggested her blog entry on 25 April 2012 about the end of Haringey's Community Volunteer programme. There's a screengrab of the opening paragraphs at the bottom of this page.
Liz also mentioned another of her blog comments about: "how the ability to add pics and get feedback from the council's own site would greatly help reporting (esp as it works pretty well on mobile devices)".
Lastly she added: "that ongoing bugbear, the purple bag of doom but even those seem to be disappearing a bit quicker than they used to. "
§ In 2012 I was told that Haringey was trying out a welcome new initiative - a smartphone app which let staff report problems. This app became available for residents in Autumn 2013. This can help make reporting street faults faster and simpler. It might also widen the gap between better-off and poorer areas if take-up is greater in the former.
§ A helpful link about Co-production.