News

A new API integration has been completed between Buckinghamshire Council’s instance of FixMyStreet Pro and the Idox Geospatial Countryside Asset Management System (CAMS), used by the council to manage its public rights of way data. 

This integration enables report categories for problems relating to public rights of way, such as broken gates and missing signposts, to be introduced into FixMyStreet Pro for Buckinghamshire. 

“The integration will provide greater visibility of existing reports, reduce duplicate reports and improve accuracy of reporting through map based assets.”

– Cameron Barrett, FixMyStreet Product Manager at Buckinghamshire Council 

Such reports, including any images uploaded by the report-maker, are sent directly into CAMS to be responded to by the appropriate teams. 

Updates made to reports by council staff within CAMS are returned to FixMyStreet Pro, with details shared automatically via email to the report-maker and any subscribers.

Response templates managed by staff within the FixMyStreet Pro administration dashboard correspond to different status updates within CAMS, making it easy to respond to reports in user-friendly language, helping to manage expectations and keep the feedback loop closed.

The CAMS integration is one of several with Buckinghamshire’s FixMyStreet Pro, which was implemented in 2018. Existing integrations include the Causeway Alloy asset management system for highways reports, the Abavus My Council Services (MCS) CRM system for street cleaning and other environment reports and EvoClaim, the solution used by the council to manage claims from residents for injury or damage sustained to vehicles or property on a highway.

Cameron Barrett, FixMyStreet Product Manager at Buckinghamshire Council said:

“FixMyStreet Pro has been Buckinghamshire Highways’ online reporting tool since 2018. We have continued to develop FixMyStreet by integrating with our Street Scene operations as well as Parks. 

“Rights of way presented an opportunity for integration identified through high volumes of Rights of way enquiries that were being submitted via “Best fit” categories on FixMyStreet and subsequently being closed and internally redirected. 

“The integration will provide greater visibility of existing reports, reduce duplicate reports and improve accuracy of reporting through map based assets. 

“The team at SocietyWorks and Idox have been fantastic in supporting this project and prioritising customer needs throughout.”

Angela Dixon, Managing Director at SocietyWorks, said:

“The delivery of modern public services requires a unified approach. It has been a pleasure to support Buckinghamshire Council with another integration into their co-branded version of FixMyStreet Pro. 

“I would like to thank everyone involved in this project at Buckinghamshire, Idox Geospatial and here at SocietyWorks for their dedication to delivering interoperable services that help councils bridge data gaps and improve the user experiences of members of the public.”

David Bennett, CAMS Consultant, Idox Geospatial said:

“This integration makes it easier for residents to report public rights of way issues and helps the Council respond more efficiently. 

“We’re proud to have worked with Buckinghamshire and SocietyWorks to connect CAMS with FixMyStreet Pro and improve the experience for everyone involved.”

Joanne Taylor, Rights of Way Operations Manager at Buckinghamshire Council, said: 

“This is an important development; the integrated link between FixMyStreet and Countryside Access Management systems will streamline the customer journey, enabling the Rights of Way Operations Team to provide up to date progression on defects recorded on the Rights of Way network, via both the Rights of Way online map and FixMyStreet.”

As a map-based reporting solution, FixMyStreet Pro can do lots of clever things to help users make accurate and actionable reports of local street, highway and environment faults.

From suggesting potential duplicate reports, to automatically diverting reports between different authorities – and even detecting when a report is being made on a private road.

How private road detection works on FixMyStreet Pro

Using an asset layer shared via integration with an asset management system, councils and other public authorities responsible for fixing local problems can detect when a user is trying to make a report on a private or unadopted road.

When making a report via an authority’s branded instance of FixMyStreet Pro, users find the location of their report either by typing in the area, postcode or street name if they know it, or by using their current geo-location.

The map then loads at that location, the pin can be placed on the map exactly where the problem is located and a category can be selected.

If the map pin is not placed on the asset layer which depicts the roads adopted by the council or authority in question, then the user can be shown a message to inform them and signpost to where they may be able to redirect their report.

In instances where certain assets on a private road remain the responsibility of the local council or authority, FixMyStreet Pro supports the triaging of this based on the report location and category.

This ensures the user never needs to worry about who’s responsible for what and the authority only receives reports they can deal with.

Private road detection on the national FixMyStreet site

As you may already know, FixMyStreet Pro was born out of FixMyStreet, the national reporting service launched by our parent charity mySociety in 2007.

Being a purposeful piece of technology which supports open standards to remove barriers to accessing useful services for the public sector, councils can opt to set up their own integration with FixMyStreet (for free) using a standard known as Open311.

Non-FixMyStreet Pro users who set up and run their own Open311 integration with the national reporting site can also supply their own asset layer for adopted or unadopted roads to help eliminate avoidable and incorrect reports. Find out more about the FixMyStreet Open311 API.

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For more information about how FixMyStreet Pro works, request a demo from our friendly team.

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The next stage of our phased rollout of WasteWorks for the London Borough of Bexley has been completed, incorporating into the service the ability for residents to sign up to and pay for a bulky waste collection.

API integrations into the Whitespace Work Software in-cab system and the Capita Pay360 payment service used by Bexley enable a self-service workflow for residents and for staff using WasteWorks on behalf of those who need support.

As with all co-branded instances of WasteWorks, Bexley’s version of the service has been configured to meet its exact requirements.

“Residents now benefit from a modernised booking system that replaces the previous workaround via the Contact Centre, reducing call volumes and improving self-service access.”

– London Borough of Bexley

For the bulky waste functionality, as well as standard features such as the ability to check available collection slots before finalising a booking, Bexley also benefits from enhanced, council-specific features, including a pricing structure based on points and alternative pricing for state pension recipients. Additional alternative pricing will be made available for Saturday collections.  

WasteWorks also enables Bexley to provide residents with collection reference numbers, and email notifications for confirmations, cancellations, status updates and reminders. The service also collects accurate information on the location and accessibility of items to be collected for collection teams.

The addition of bulky waste to Bexley’s WasteWorks service means that residents can now use it to access the following services:

• Check bin days on-demand;
• Track the status of collections;
• Add waste collection days to a smartphone or computer online calendar (they update automatically when changes are made);
• Report missed collections;
• Request a new rubbish or recycling bin;
• Request a replacement bin;
• Request the removal of a bin (without needing to request a new one);
• Sign up and pay for a bulky waste collection.

Supporting statement from the London Borough of Bexley:

“The London Borough of Bexley is proud to announce the successful implementation of the Special Bulky Waste service into WasteWorks, delivered by SocietyWorks. This milestone marks a significant enhancement in the borough’s digital waste management capabilities, offering residents a streamlined and user-friendly way to book and pay for bulky waste collections online.

“The project, delivered in close collaboration with SocietyWorks, Bexley’s Digital Team, Contact Centre and Environmental Services, has been met with enthusiastic uptake since its launch.

“Residents now benefit from a modernised booking system that replaces the previous workaround via the Contact Centre, reducing call volumes and improving self-service access.”

About WasteWorks

WasteWorks launched in 2021 and was co-designed with the London Borough of Bromley, where its intelligent features have helped the Council to achieve a 40% drop in avoidable customer contacts about waste services.

Shortlisted for the Public/Private Partnership Award at the LGC Awards 2022, WasteWorks is designed as a Progressive Web App (PWA). This means it functions beautifully on any device, and can be downloaded to mobile devices to be used as an app, without the need to maintain a separate app codebase.

Find out more about WasteWorks.

A few weeks ago we blogged about how we are now using the OS Maps API for mapping tiles across all instances of FixMyStreet and FixMyStreet Pro, following the retirement of Microsoft’s Bing Maps API.

We mentioned the only difference users might notice is that the Bing Maps API provided an aerial view option which was sometimes used by our council cobrands. We suggested some potential solutions in the form of providing access to a GIS mapping server that can supply map tiles and aerial imagery, or providing OS imagery data for us to serve.

We’re pleased to report that this has been successful for Northumberland County Council, which is now able to serve aerial imagery from its GIS mapping server on its FixMyStreet Pro service.

Users can toggle between the ‘Aerial map’ and ‘Road map’ by clicking the satellite icon on the right side of the screen. 

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If you are a FixMyStreet Pro client and you would like to replicate this on your instance of the service, please open a ticket on our helpdesk service.

If you are not yet a FixMyStreet Pro client and you have questions about how the service works, please drop us a message and we’ll get back to you.

We’re delighted to announce that we will soon be launching a self-service version of FixMyStreet especially for parish and town councils.

FixMyStreet for Parish & Town Councils will enable even the smallest local councils to offer a user-friendly and responsive reporting service to local residents for issues under their responsibility.

Built into the robust FixMyStreet platform, parish and town councils will be able to set up and manage their service themselves, adding their own logo to the reporting page, choosing their own categories and managing responses to remove reliance on upper tier authorities.

Where councils share responsibility for certain issues depending on location or asset type, FixMyStreet will automatically triage reports according to the required criteria to help eliminate misreporting and duplication of effort.

Find out more about FixMyStreet for Parish & Town Councils.

On most of our FixMyStreet Pro instances, we use Ordnance Survey’s Maps API to supply the map tiles for our maps. Councils have free access to the API under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), so we can display mapping up to a very high zoom level.

Microsoft is now retiring its Bing Maps API, which we have used on fixmystreet.com and some other instances for many years, and so we have now switched these to also use the OS Maps API – in instances where we do not have PSGA access, we use OS OpenData served from our own tile server for more zoomed in levels.

For the OS Leisure map tiles, this should provide an increase in image quality, and should also be more up to date in general. In Northern Ireland, fixmystreet.com is now using OpenStreetMap, ongoing thanks to them for their services.

Functionally, the only difference users might notice is that the Bing Maps API provided an aerial view option which is not currently replicable. One way around this for FixMyStreet Pro council cobrands could be to utilise an internal GIS mapping server that can supply map tiles and aerial imagery, or to provide us with OS imagery data for us to serve. If you’re a Pro client and you think this may apply to you, please open a ticket on the helpdesk system.

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For more information about the FixMyStreet platform, please get in touch.

Although often associated with the reporting of potholes and fly-tipping, did you know that FixMyStreet Pro can also improve the way authorities handle reports of problems found on public rights of way?

With over 14,000 miles of public rights of way in England and Wales, managed by a combined network of local councils, highways authorities and private landowners, it would be unreasonable to expect members of the public to always know who can respond to the problem they have found, be it a broken stile, overgrown hedgerow or wonky signpost.

As the only reporting solution capable of automatically triaging reports between different authorities (not to mention triaging between different internal departments within those authorities), FixMyStreet Pro makes it easy to successfully report and respond to problems on public rights of way.

Categories

Authorities using FixMyStreet Pro can set up as many or as few categories as required, comprising different service areas. As an example, if you’re a FixMyStreet Pro client and you originally set up the service for the reporting highways issues, but you would also like to incorporate public rights of way, you can do so!

Categories can be set to reflect whatever issues you can deal with, while subcategories help report-makers to narrow down the problem they want to report.

Reports within different categories and subcategories can be triaged either to different email addresses or sent directly into CRM systems through API integration.

Asset layers

API integration can also be established between FixMyStreet Pro and asset management systems. This enables authorities to display asset layers on the reporting map to visually show to report-makers which public rights of way are their responsibility.

For users making reports when they are not currently at the location of the problem, asset layers can be particularly useful in improving the accuracy of the map pin’s positioning.

If available from the integrated system, individual assets, such as bridges, can be displayed on the map to help report-makers accurately select where the problem is.

Where a user attempts to report a problem that is the responsibility of another authority (e.g. National Highways or a neighbouring council), asset layers can be used to automatically divert reports. This is really useful in urban areas where public rights of way commonly overlap with roads and cross boundaries managed by other authorities.

If no such layer is available, FixMyStreet Pro can triage the report to the correct authority via the national FixMyStreet site.

Where the problem is on private land, or is managed by another public body, it’s possible to display a message to alert the report-maker of this and to signpost to the correct place if known.

Extra questions

Additional questions can be added to FixMyStreet Pro’s reporting form to enable report-makers to self-serve all necessary information and prompt an appropriate and efficient response from the recipient authority.

Questions can be displayed at different points within the reporting workflow, according to the category and/or subcategory selected.

Offline reporting

Because FixMyStreet Pro is a progressive web app, it permits offline capability to authorities’ individual Pro sites.

This means members of the public can start reports on-the-go without internet connection, and finish them later when back online.

With many public rights of way traversing more rural areas where connectivity is poor, this functionality is essential in helping keep reports accurate and accessible to all.

Preventing duplication

With all reports displayed publicly on the map, FixMyStreet Pro helps users to see which problems have already been reported, and if any updates have been left on the report.

If a user attempts to report a problem in the same location and category of an existing report, FixMyStreet Pro will suggest that report to the user and, if it is the same problem, ask them to subscribe to the existing report instead of reporting again.

This saves time for the report-maker and helps authorities save money by reducing the costs associated with duplication of effort and manual intervention.

The radius within which duplicate reports are suggested to users can be modified per category. This is particularly useful for some public rights of way issues, such as overgrown vegetation, for which you may want to set a wider radius to compensate for the possibility of map pins being placed at multiple different points for the same issue.

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For more information about including public rights of way categories on FixMyStreet Pro, or to discuss any other functionality, get in touch.

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SocietyWorks’ Head of Product, Bekki Leaver, provides some frank food for thought on the topic of using AI to fix potholes.

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There’s a lot of buzz about AI and how it’s going to fix the UK’s pothole issues by using clever software and cameras, even drones, to help authorities identify them automatically. 

It all sounds very impressive, and as someone working in tech and digital transformation, I am truly excited about the potential of new technologies. Using tech to make services more efficient and proactive sounds brilliant.

But here’s the thing: I do not believe pothole identification is the problem.

To improve anything, you have to start with the problem.

While, naturally, authorities can’t be everywhere at once, generally speaking they already know where the potholes are. Residents report them, sometimes with creative photoshoots to show how big the pothole is (banana for scale anyone?). Inspectors are out there checking roads. Platforms like FixMyStreet help map and visualise reports in real time. We have no shortage of pothole identification.

What we do have a shortage of is capacity to do anything about them. Enough people, time and funding to fix the things once they’re found.

Seeing more < doing more

Imagine going to the hospital with a broken leg. You know it’s broken, the physician knows it’s broken, everyone knows! But instead of treatment a consultant wheels out an expensive new machine that scans it in 4K from multiple angles and tells you exactly how broken it is, only for there to be no staff to actually put it in a cast. That’s not helpful! That’s just frustrating. And this is where we’re heading with “better identification tech”. We’ve got more awareness, but no resources to act, in a system already stretched to its limits.

Let’s be clear though, this isn’t about authorities responsible for fixing potholes not doing enough. Working in partnership with highways teams at authorities across the UK, we see them pulling off small miracles on a daily basis, trying to keep services running in the face of ever increasing demand and diminishing budgets. Where AI tools can help prioritise workloads, assist in predicting seasonal pressures, or just reduce the mountain of paperwork, I am all for it.

Digital transformations don’t start with shiny new tech, sensors or algorithms. They start with people. Unless the system has the resources and flexibility to use what technology finds, all we’re doing is giving exhausted teams more things to feel behind on.

If AI could help us fight the causes of potholes, then great – I’m all for it. In the meantime, surely the focus should be on tech helping frontline services do more with what resources they have, rather than see more?

After all, if you hit a pothole this week, you won’t care if it’s been beautifully scanned, categorised, and added to a dashboard somewhere; you’ll just want an easy way to see if it’s been reported already and for it to be fixed.

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Read more posts from the SocietyWorks team.

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Image taken by a member of the mySociety/SocietyWorks team and used with permission.

This blog post was written for techUK’s Social Value Week campaign in April 2025. 

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The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 initiated valuable shifts towards integrative procurement processes within Local Government. It encouraged purchasing decisions to be taken from a strategic perspective to deliver as much real value as possible to communities.

When approached purposefully and with the genuine alignment of values, partnerships between the public and private sectors can deliver value well beyond the specific product or service being contracted. Over time, such partnerships can increasingly generate impact across economic, social and environmental priorities.

However, generally speaking, there is still work to do to improve the implementation of social value procurement practices within Local Government to facilitate fairness, extend impact and ensure rigid, quantitative procurement processes do not lock local authorities out of the most socially responsible and valuable opportunities.

Social value as standard, not as an afterthought

As an SME belonging to the long-running civic technology charity mySociety, whose mission is to deliver technology for the public good, we hold a unique position in our understanding and delivery of social value.

From the charity’s perspective, we deliver technology (TheyWorkForYou; WhatDoTheyKnow; Council Climate Action Scorecards; Local Intelligence Hub, FixMyStreet etc.) to empower more people so that collaboratively we can build a fairer, safer future.

Meanwhile, from the commercial perspective, SocietyWorks builds on over 20 years of experience to deliver fairly-priced SaaS products (FixMyStreet Pro, WasteWorks, ApplyWorks, etc.) designed to help build trust between local authorities and residents, a crucial component of civic engagement and flourishing communities. Any profits made are reinvested into the charity to support the ongoing delivery of our charitable services.

In essence, social value is embedded in all that we do, and local authorities and other public sector organisations that choose to work with us unlock unique opportunities to play their part in supporting wider civic improvements across the UK, and even internationally.

On paper, we are exactly the kind of supplier any forward-thinking, technology-driven and socially conscious authority would want to partner with.

The impact of social value and the value of social impact

Despite delivering social value for longer than the Act itself has been in effect, and despite offering support for local economies through initiatives that harness the vast array of skills and specialised knowledge within our organisation, we often find that our internal definition of social value does not match up with that of local authority procurement teams.

Procurement frameworks often prioritise tangible, place-specific outcomes measured strictly in monetary terms, rather than considering broader societal impacts.

While local authorities appreciate working with us due to our values-based approach and our mission-driven ethos, rigid definitions within procurement processes occasionally categorise our charitable initiatives as ‘social impact’, limiting their recognition in formal evaluation criteria.

Another challenge we face as a fully-remote SME belonging to a not-for-profit group, is that we encounter procurement assessments primarily designed for significantly larger, locally-embedded suppliers, where the total absolute value quantified in sterling is the only lens through which social value is scored.

Set up in this way, procurement frameworks only measure social value in monetary terms, excluding the rich qualitative data that would illuminate true social value.

Getting better value for local authorities

By integrating qualitative assessments into procurement evaluations, local authorities could better recognise and reward innovative solutions that deliver significant societal benefits extending beyond immediate geographical boundaries.

Recognising the qualitative impact delivered by social enterprises like ours would ensure greater sustainability and effectiveness of community outcomes.

Ultimately, enhancing procurement frameworks to acknowledge the interconnected nature of social value can lead to stronger partnerships between local authorities and mission-led suppliers, maximising long-term societal benefits.

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Connect with Angela on LinkedIn or drop us a message to talk more about the social value we deliver.

Being a supplier of technology that sits at the frontend of public services, one of the key promises we make to our customers is that we will accommodate the need for changes made to any backend systems with which we integrate while keeping things consistent for members of the public. 

A recent example of this is the work we’ve been doing in collaboration with the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames and the London Borough of Sutton. 

Both councils use our WasteWorks solution to manage online access to residential waste services and have been navigating a migration to a new version of their integrated in-cab system Echo.

In-cab integrations

For both councils, an API integration between WasteWorks and the Selected Interventions Echo in-cab system, used by the two councils’ waste provider Veolia, facilitates a two-way flow of data from council, to supplier, to resident and back again.

This enables residents to self-serve access to real-time data in order to:

• Check their bin days; 
• Monitor whether their bin has been collected yet;
• Find out why a collection was not taken;
• Report problems with collections; 
• Request new or extra containers; 
• Pay for subscriptions to green and bulky waste collections;
• And more according to the needs of the individual council.

As we do with any new integration, we worked in partnership with the teams at each council to map out the processes needed for sharing data to and from their new versions of Echo and test them out in staging.

Taking this approach means we can ensure everything works as expected so that, upon turning one integration off and turning the new one on, residents using the councils’ branded installations of WasteWorks are unaware anything has changed.

Adaptable technology

No two councils use WasteWorks or their integrated systems in exactly the same way – even ones that are neighbours and share the same in-cab system like Kingston and Sutton.

For Kingston, the integration with its updated installation of Echo incorporates a new pricing structure for new container requests. Payments for Kingston are facilitated via their integrated payment provider Capita Pay360.

A spokesperson at Kingston Council said: “We are ambitious in our plans to further enhance waste and recycling services while advancing our green credentials.

“Kingston has the fourth highest recycling rate in London, with over 840,000 collections taking place monthly.

“We are pleased to be continuing to work alongside WasteWorks to deliver an efficient and reliable service for our residents.”

Meanwhile, Sutton’s updated integration with Echo incorporates numerous other changes including the ability for residents to report a spillage incident or the misplacement of a bin following a collection.  

Angela Dixon, Managing Director at SocietyWorks, said: “Residential waste services require flexibility and we are very committed to providing it through WasteWorks. 

“I am proud that we have been able to support the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames and the London Borough of Sutton through this changeover period, accommodating their individual needs while maintaining business as usual standards of service for residents.”