"This Fix My Street enquiry has been automatically closed." Is it because of Nesting Birds or No Budget?

On 3rd April 2025 Bristol 24/7 reported that "Problems persist on Fix My Street", where they stated:

Residents who have filed legitimate concerns such as dumped mattresses, broken glass, dog mess and bags of rubbish strewn in streets and outside parks, have had their cases closed, but the reason for that has left residents even more frustrated.

Several of the cases that have been closed have received the following explanation: ‘Our team has investigated and found that resolving this issue does not fall under the responsibility of Bristol Waste, or we are unable to address this problem for health and safety reasons at this time.’

I have been working on analysis of "Closed" FixMyStreet Reports for a few weeks and uncovered some interesting insights.

Since 2020 there have been 85,136 reports made via FixMyStreet for Bristol Wards. Of these reports 40,812 (48%) have been marked as "Fixed"; 8,162 (10%) are still "Open" and 36,162 (42%) are classified as "Closed".

When reports are "Closed" this does not mean they are "Fixed", which confuses many people. Once the report is closed there is no way for the reporter to add another comment to say the problem is still there, which means the only option is to raise another report.

But what are the explanations for these reports being Closed?

I have analysed the reasons given for reports being "Closed" and these are the results from my analysis.

If you look at the examples below you might understand why some people feel that their reports are not being dealt with properly.

Closed Automatically

These reports are closed automatically on the system. When I look at the number of days between the report being Closed and the previous update I can see that the vast majority of these reports are being closed 21 days or 41 days if no update is made to the report. This implies there is an automatic rule in the FixMyStreet system which is responsible for closing the largest number of reports.

For a report to be marked as "Fixed" the person who reported it would have to do this in FixMyStreet. As most people do not do this the Council use the auto closure rules to mark them as Closed. They might be fixed and they might not. If auto close was not used there would be 1000's of reports that just remained open forever.

A better option might be for the Council to mark them as "Fixed" once they resolved the problem. But this would mean a lot of extra work for the council staff and they have got a lot of other things to do.

Example 1: "Large potholes on Whiteladies Road near Clifton Down Shopping Centre". This report was created on 08/03/2025 with this update added 4 days later.

Then 21 days later the report was closed automatically.

Example 2: "Double Yellow lines". This report was created on 15/01/2025 with these updates added.

21 days after the last update the report was automatically closed.

No Action Taken

You never know why these reports are marked as "No Action Taken", but it does mean the problem is still there.

Example 1: "Very large, deep pot hole" reported on 28/01/2025 with the description:

"Pothole near entrance to Mud Dock car park on The Grove. Pothole caused 2 tyres on my car to burst, car has had to be recovered."

These updates were added 2 days later.

Example 2: "Third time I have reported rocking column. Ref. was 6808610" reported on 07/12/2024 with the description:

Pole is top heavy and has rocked all night and is still rocking Sat 11.30. your men looked when no wind

These updates were added 2 days later.

Please Raise Again

These reports have been Closed but people are urged to raise a new report if the problem is still there. This closure category has not been used since September 2021.

Example "Unmarked and unilluminated bollard island causing repeated cars to burst their tyres on exposed metal of improperly removed lamp post". This was raised on 31/08/2021 and closed on 11/05/2022.

Not Urgent

Most of the reports in this category are about potholes and faded road markings.

Example 1: "Road surface warped and dangerous". Reported on 18/03/2025 with the description:

Where the road surface has softened in hot weather, it has formed a series of deep channels and peaks. It's very dangerous and eventually a motorcycle is going to crash terribly. Cars speed down the road after dark and it is severe enough that a small car could come off the road.

Example 2: "Large pothole amongst poor road surface". Reported on 14/03/2025 with this description:

Very dangerous for cyclists - unacceptable that this was reported over 2 months ago and still nothing has been done.

Not Responsible

Where Bristol City Council is not responsible then it would be helpful if they told people who was. You should note that quite a few of these reports are duplicates of other reports.

Example 1: "Large truck blocking pavement." Reported on 10/03/2025 with this description:

Large truck blocking pavement. Photo from 3 Mar 25; also parked 10 Mar 25 (no photo but same position).

Example 2: "Non council bench". Reported on 07/03/2025 with the description:

Council created by local community has been destroyed. Nails now poking out and hurt relative. It's not going to be fixed and now a nuisance.

Partially Fixed

Example 1: "Flooding due to blocked drain". Reported on 29/03/2025 with this description:

The road was resurfaced without getting the drains unblocked so there is still dangerous flooding at the pedestrian crossing - unusable this week after light rain overnight- pedestrians and cyclists risk serious injury

Example 2: "Drain blocked (has been for several years) causing flooding and damage to scout store". Reported on 26/01/2025 with this description:

During rain the drain floods and water overflows into the scout storage area causing problems with access and damage to the footway. Also water accesses the storage area under Coronation Road and is damaging the flooring. This has been reported a few times but only the top of the drain has been cleared and the blockage seems to be deeper down.

Enforcement Letter

This is often used where hedges and trees are causing an obstruction, but they are not on Council land and they send an enforcement letter to the land owner.

Example: "Hedge blocking pavement". Reported on 12/03/2025 with this description:

This hedge is blocking the pavement and children are forced onto the road as this is a route to go to nearby school. Buggies are also forced on the road, very unsafe.

Network Management Team

These are problems cause by works carried out by the Council or 3rd Parties. They are usually closed on the same day.

Example 1: "Roadworks boarding left on grassy area". Reported on 08/04/2025 with this description:

Appears to be a roadworks orange boarding sign left behind after work has been carried out in the area the address is grassy area next to no 1 Silbury Road, Ashton Vale, Bristol

Example 2: "About 40 potholes marked up along whole of Great George Street some months ago". Reported on 31/03/2025 with this description:

The markings are now fading so wasting time if work is not carried out soon. Suggest it merits complete resurfacing.

Redirected

These reported are re-directed to other departments.

Example: "Fence down at CLIFF SIDE". Reported on 17/03/2025 with the description:

The fence is damaged and down directly next to a cliff side with a VERY steep drop. It needs repairing ASAP not ignoring.

No Budget

Example 1: "No bin in green space - litter problems continue". Reported on 31/03/2025 with the description:

There is no bin in the green space at the end of Holmes St, on Canterbury St and Salisbury Street. There should be a bin as the space is used by children/young people and rubbish/glass/drug paraphernalia is strewn everywhere so at least one bin is needed. Despite dogs being banned there is also dog poo left in the park so a dedicated dog bin should beade available too.

Example 2: "NO street lights". Reported on 25/03/2025 with the description:

Good morning, this is the second time I sent you a message about the street lights, the top end of Allington Road, southville there is no lights. It's pitch black I can't even see putting my front door key in the key hole. I think this is not safe for women. So please can you do something about this. Thank you.

Nesting Birds

Example: "Hedge along of car park no longer being maintained". Reported on 23/06/2024 with this description:

The hedge running alongside the Snuff Mills car park used to be maintained by the council. It hasn’t been cut by them for over a year now. We try to cut it ourselves but we don’t have the appropriate equipment to do it properly.

Example 1: ""