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Content idea: fixing local street lights

14th June 2010 by William Perrin

Simply recording a broken street light on your local web site can help get it fixed.  In London’s Kings Cross William had been trying to get a stubbornly broken street light fixed by the council for several months.  He hit on a new angle by attacking the performance targets the council might have and comparing them to other councils.  By making the problem public and not just a private exchange of emails and phone calls with the council, William managed to bring some passive pressure to bear. The light got fixed.

Telling people that you are reporting something can reassure them that some one is actually taking the trouble to report stuff and get it fixed.  You could also try the excellent Fix My Street service that takes some of the hassle out of reporting things to the local council.

In the same area, William uses his website to draw attention to another broken light in a high crime area.  There’s nothing elaborate about this – just a simple picture and a few words.  Making it public can help get things done.

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William Perrin
Founder of Talk About Local, Trustee of the Indigo Trust, Tinder Foundation, 360Giving, co-founder Connect8, former member of UK Government transparency panels, former Policy Advisor to UK Prime Minister, former Cabinet Office senior civil servant.Open data do-er, Kings Cross London blogger. Loves countryside. Two small children.
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Filed Under: Campaigning, Quick Tips, Writing and Content Ideas Tagged With: street light

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  1. Tweets that mention Content idea: fixing local street lights | Talk About Local -- Topsy.com says:
    14th June 2010 at 9:51 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PublicSectorBloggers, Talk About Local. Talk About Local said: Latest on #TAL: Content idea: fixing local street lights – Simply recording a broken street light on your local web … http://ow.ly/17JFPW […]

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