I have just submitted a on-line report of a road defect in the middle of Popes Lane, W5. The person reporting lives on the south side of Popes Lane, is an LBH resident in Brentford Ward, despite having a W5 postcode.
She tried to report by phone a month ago, and then again 2 weeks ago, and was met with rudeness and denial about the whereabouts of her house. She was told she didn’t live in Hounslow and needed to phone Ealing. Ealing’s initial response was far more helpful, they confirmed the defect was in LB Hounslow. One borough said they would report it to the other, but today both boroughs are denying all knowledge of her call, and there appears to be no record that this is a defect that needs addressing.
This raises 2 Issues:
1) Refusal of LBH staff to acknowledge that there are people with W5 postcodes who are LB Hounslow residents. (Perhaps also an issue for people with UB/W3 codes but I bet it never happens for those with a W4 code!). Anyone with any knowledge of urban history/geography knows that post-codes and ward/borough boundaries are seldom coterminous, and council systems should acknowledge this. Residents in my ward with W5 postcodes are continually dealing with this ignorance from both call-centre and operational staff - in all departments.
Surely if Ealing’s web-site reporting page can acknowledge this, then any staff can, as they must be using the same technology when they input information from calls?
2) Lack of publicly available information about responsibilities on roads where the borough boundary goes down the middle. I have been told that there is a management agreement on such roads between the neighbouring boroughs, so that one or other borough maintains, services, (and enforces?) across the full width of the road – and it is agreed where along these roads the management responsibilities change. If this information was available, then ward councillors and residents living on such roads would save a lot of time in getting complaints to the right borough.
No comments:
Post a Comment