New way to get things done down your street
We've all been there. A pothole in the road, rude graffiti on the garages next to the shops or a car that seems to have been abandoned and is blocking the street.
It is petty crime and damage that in itself might be considered minor, but together can bring fear and resentment to an entire neighbourhood.
Now the problem has led to the rise of a website where people can swap frustrating stories – and where complaints are sent directly to the authorities responsible for tackling the crime or for carrying out repairs to roads.
The charity site FixMyStreet.com is from the same stable as several other independent sites such as theyworkforyou.com and writeto them.com – websites designed to make authorities accountable.
Now instead of hanging on the phone to a council call centre or waiting for a local politician to ring back, FixMyStreet claims to send a local complaint instantly to the right department of your council or police station.
Users can also type in their postcodes and find out exactly what problems have been reported in the surrounding few miles.
According to the website FixMyStreet is "a site to help people report, view, or discuss local problems they've found to their local council by simply locating them on a map".
The service launched in February 2007 and offers people a way of quickly and anonymously reporting graffiti, unlit lamp posts, abandoned beds, broken glass on a cycle path and other problems to a council without any fuss.
And it allows users to vent their frustrations and share their concerns with the world at large. The site was built by MySociety and came into being with a grant from the Department for Constitutional Affairs Innovations Fund.
FixMyStreet's Deborah Kerr is in charge of updating the site and ensuring reports posted on it are passed to the relevant authorities.
She said: "Our primary mission is to build internet projects that give people simple, tangible benefits. Our first project was WriteToThem, where you can write to any of your elected representatives for free.
"With FixMyStreet, we pass on your details, and details of the problem, to the council contact or contacts responsible for the area. Your name is displayed upon the site if you let us, but not your email address. And we will never give or sell your email address to anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law."
