PRIDE-line

Erewash Borough Council’s PRIDE in Erewash Campaign has been boosted by the launch of a confidential 24-hour hotline which gives residents the power to tackle environmental crime in their local area.

Fly tipping, littering, abandoned vehicles and graffiti are currently reported via the Councils contact centre, however, residents may be reluctant to pass on the details of offenders when speaking to a member of staff.

PRIDE-line is a 24 hour answer phone service which will allows residents to report offences and offenders without the need to speak to a member of staff and with no requirement to leave their personal details.

Those calling the special hotline are asked to give as much information of offenders and offences as possible. The Council will need to know the names and addresses, vehicle types, registration numbers, locations and nature of all offences. Callers will be encouraged to leave their contact details should they wish to do so, as this will assist the Wardens Service in gathering evidence – however this is not imperative to investigations.

In reporting environmental crime, residents now have the choice of the following contact points:

• Letter
• Call the Contact Centre (Office Hours) – 0115 907 2244
• Call the Contact Centre (Out of Hours – Mon-Thurs 5pm-8pm, Fri 4.30pm-8pm, Sat 9.30am-4.30pm.)
• E-mail the PRIDE-line section at prideline@erewash.gov.uk 
• PRIDE-line (24 Hours Confidential hot line) 0115 8508383

Neighbourhood Fix-It

"Two clicks to let your council and your neighbours know that something is broken in your neighbourhood"

mySociety and the Young Foundation has launched a new website that will make it easier for people to talk to their local authority and other local people about broken civic infrastructure in their neighbourhood. www.neighbourhoodfixit.com will allow people to:

• easily report broken infrastructure (streetlights, phone boxes, hydrants, potholes) in their area to the local authority, and
• to start, or take part in public discussions about maintaining and improving the infrastructure and environment in their neighbourhoods.

When residents discover something broken, out-of-order or vandalised in their neighbourhood, they can visit the website, enter their postcode and a map of the area will be displayed. People can then click on the map at the exact location of the damaged property, leaving a note describing the problem for other residents to see. The message will automatically report the problem to the relevant council officer, who will receive the notification by email or by fax. The website makes it easy for council officers to respond to fault reports – either publicly or privately - by simply emailing a response to the person who left the original message. Council officers can choose whether to make their responses public on the website, giving them the option to give a status report about progress with repairs.

www.neighbourhoodfixit.com has been developed with funding from the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ Innovations Fund.