Keeping London Tidy with LoveCleanLondon
Do you every come across fly-tipping, graffiti or litter but can’t be bothered to search around for the right council web-form to report it? The LoveCleanLondon app works anywhere and makes sure your report gets to the right authority.
LoveCleanLondon is part of a system initiated by Lewisham Council back in 2004 and launched as LoveLewisham in 2005. Since then it’s been taken-up across the UK and adopted in several other countries. LoveCleanLondon was launched by London Mayor, Boris Johnson in 2011 to help clean-up the Capital in the run-up to the 2012 Games. The app works on any Smart Phone (iphone / Windows / / Blackberry) by sending GPS coordinates along with a photo of the problem to the appropriate authority. The user can then track progress, either on their device or via the web app.
Of course, action is required to get the job done, but LoveCleanLondon has an important level of buy-in from London Councils. LoveCleanLondon is unique in that it has support from all London local authorities, from London Councils, the Greater London Authority and key private sector environmental management contractors such as Veolia Environmental Services, Sita UK and Glendale Grounds maintenance. Reports have been actioned by every London Council, and around 30% have gone even further by integrating it with their back-office systems, or publishing their own localised versions, such as LoveNewham and LoveHaringey.
LoveCleanLondon receives legislative support through the London Mayor’s Municipal Waste Strategy:
“Proposal 6.1 The Mayor will encourage
London boroughs to adopt Love Clean
London, a mobile and online reporting and
recording system for graffiti, fly-tipping and other quality of life issues.”
LoveCleanLondon is also being used by an increasing number of Local Authority staff and their contractors. This means that these kinds of issues, like graffiti or fly-tipping can be reported sooner.
With increasing pressure on Local Council budgets, LoveCleanLondon has helped direct more limited resources to getting the job done, rather than administering the problem. The app has helped deliver important improvements. Since its public launch in Lewisham complaints have fallen by over 20%, fly-tipping by 54% and graffiti by 73%. Casework costs were reduced by almost 80% compared to reporting by telephone and resident satisfaction rates have improved by 18%.
We’ve also seen big decreases in the number of reports coming through call centres as service users (citizens, contractors and staff) ‘Channel Shift’ away from expensive and slow telephone-based reporting.
It’s not all about reporting something for someone else to deal with though. Sometimes it’s good to create a bit of community spirit and report the small things we all can do to make London a cleaner pace. LoveCleanLondon goes beyond the passive reporting process by encouraging people to share issues they’ve resolved themselves. The ‘I Cleaned London’ category can be assigned to LoveCleanLondon reports where a response or action from the local authority is not required. The app allows citizens to report the things they’ve done to keep London clean and encourage others to do the same. This can be anything from putting a drinks can in a nearby bin, removing some fly-posting to sharing the results of a community clean-up.
LoveCleanLondon is an active social network, where citizens and the workforce can showcase improvements & share responsibility.
You can download the app, and find our further information here;
http://www.lovecleanlondon.org/Reports/Home
My blog: http://nigeltyrell.com
