Potholes are the most common street fault we encounter on the streets of the borough, here’s how to report them and other faults you may find such as broken street furniture and streetlights. Always remember that a particularly dangerous situation (such as broken glass all over a lane) should be reported to the police.

By far the simplest way is to use CTC’s Fill That Hole system, which you can use on the web or via an app for iPhone which lets you submit a photo of the hazard. Make sure that you provide enough detail to exactly locate the issue, which direction and lane on the road it is in. It’s a good idea to take a photo if you can, after a fault is reported you can add a photo to the report. And a series of photos of an unfilled hole is great for campaigning!

The reports are public which means you can see both the faults the council has yet to deal with, and those already confirmed as fixed as a list, and a map of current faults. As you use the map whilst submitting an issue, you can easily avoid duplicating an existing report. Instead, contact your local councillor and let us know if progress is particularly slow so we can see if campaigning can help.

To report a fault on Fill That Hole follow these steps:

Now you will need to locate the hazard on the map.

You can enter a postcode bottom right to go to a location, or type in a street name and town. This will then recenter the map. You can then zoom in and out by using the bar with the + at top and – at bottom on the left or with a scroll wheel on your mouse or by double clicking. Clicking and dragging the map will let you move around the map, as will the arrows at the top left. Once you have zoomed in close enough to mark the location the map will change style.

Now you can place your flag by single clicking with the mouse on the location you need. You can still pan and zoom the map as before, and if you need to move the location simply click again. The blue spots are existing active reports.  You can click them for detail which lets you see if the pothole you are reporting is already in the system. Duplicate reports are not a great idea, unless a hazard is definitely getting worse. However, if you can see when a pothole was originally spotted and it was some time ago consider escalating and talking to your councillor for example. It is a good idea to zoom in close before placing the final location to get it as accurately as possible. Especially if you are filing reports for a series of nearby but different faults.

There are then a few more basic details to give, a written description of the location – bear in mind whoever receives this report will not have your local knowledge. Be clear, especially about which direction and side of the road it is on. If there are multiple lanes, make clear which lane.

There are two extra checkboxes for railway crossings and towpaths – these help direct the issue to the right authority. Lastly enter the date the hazard was encountered and click next.