It’s free and it’s a good way to ensure that hte council get searly reports of things that need fixing to make Reading a cleaner and more pleasant place. There are plans to increase the categories of things that can be reported too.
I’d definitely recommend it if you have a smart phone and you want o be able to help keep Reading as clean and pleasant as possible.
Council press release:
A FREE ‘Love Clean Reading’ phone app which allows people to report things like litter, graffiti, flytipping or dog mess direct to the Council whilst they are out and about, looks set to be made permanent following a successful trial.
Last year Reading Borough Council invited local residents to trial the free app – a quick and easy way for residents to help the Council keep their local neighbourhood clean. Photos are sent via the app to the Streetcare Team who in turn will then send the member of public confirmation of receipt and, when it has been attended to, a photograph or update of the cleaned up area.
Since the six-month trial was launched in October, 127 people have registered as users. Between them they have made over 500 reports.
Highlights of the trial are:
• Fly tipping or rubbish on roads prompted the highest number of reports at 138, closely followed by graffiti on 113. There were 50 reports of dog fouling
• Response times for some of the more basic reports made during the trial were reduced from an average of 3 days to an average of 1 day
• The highest number of reports came from Battle Ward, with 78 reports, followed by Abbey Ward on 50
• If these reports had come to the Council via the call centre, it would have cost an estimated £6,000
A detailed report will now go to the first ever meeting of Reading Borough Council’s Housing, Leisure and Neighbourhoods Committee on Wednesday July 17th, with the recommendation that the ‘Love Clean Reading app becomes a permanent fixture, with the possibility of increasing the number of reporting categories to include other appropriate council services.
Liz Terry, Reading’s Lead Member for Neighbourhoods, said:
“The statistics of the number of reports made by people and what they are reporting has proved to be an important tool for the Streetcare Team. They also back up what we already knew, that things like litter, graffiti and dog mess are big issues for local people and things that they want to see tackled.
“The data also allows us as a Council to pinpoint hotspots for particular types of reports, which means we can tailor resources accordingly. I’m pleased the trial has proved to be a success and look forward to even more people signing up.”
The ‘Love Clean Streets App’ is available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone and is freely available from ‘App stores’. People can download it for free and begin sending reports straight away. Thanks to GPS technology, the ‘Love Clean Reading’ app is able to identify the exact location of the problem and alerts the relevant team at Reading Borough Council. There is no need for the person to dig around for a telephone number or make a phone call as all the information the council needs is contained in the report.
In some cases that would mean Streetcare officers clearing up the mess, before taking a photo of that work and posting it on the website at http://loveclean.reading.gov.uk. In other cases – where the flytipping was on private land for example – the Council would report that back and explain that it had contacted the private owners to clear up the mess.
Reports can also be made via a log in on the website at http://loveclean.reading.gov.uk or by texting 07725 20 20 20 with ‘LCS- READ’ in the subject field or as the first part of the text message.
