The name’s the same but Street Doctor is about to work better for everyone. For many years, online reporting has allowed customers to tell Northamptonshire Highways about a transport or highway issue directly, and to see what they are doing about it. Over the years Northamptonshire Highways have worked with Northamptonshire County Council to look at improving the service and, this year, Street Doctor is getting an overhaul.
After looking at various providers they will be launching the site using FixMyStreet at the end of March and this will sit on the Northamptonshire County Council website. This means customers will still go to Street Doctor which will take them to the reporting system for a smooth, end to end service.
The previous system that is currently being used is getting dated and Northamptonshire Highways have listened to what people really want from a public reporting system. The officers are already using it internally and finding the whole process a lot better.
Constituents will have a better way of reporting and we will see a great improvement in the whole defect fixing cycle. People will be able to make reports on the NCC website, where they will find FixMyStreet as the Street Doctor interface — or through the main FixMyStreet website and app. What is great about this is that photos can be uploaded by both customers and Northamptonshire Highways to assist with locating issues and reporting back on repairs. You will be able to easily map where the issue is and also view assets such as signs, trees and adopted highways, so that it is easy to identify exactly which one you may be talking about when you make your report.
Testing of FixMyStreet is happening now. Training will be rolled out in March, and the system will be put into action in the near future.