council connect

Council Connect — report local issues, let your neighbours upvote them, and track roadworks deadlines. Turn isolated complaints into community priorities your council can't ignore.

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Council Connect

Community-Powered Issue Reporting & Accountability Platform

Track 4: Governance & Collaboration
Claude Builder Club Spring 2026 Hackathon, Imperial College London

About the Project

Council Connect is a community-driven civic platform designed to bridge the gap between residents and local councils. Today, reporting local issues—such as potholes, broken streetlights, or housing problems—is often fragmented, opaque, and isolating. Individuals submit reports through disconnected channels with little visibility into whether others are affected or whether action is being taken.

Our platform transforms this experience by turning isolated complaints into collective community signals. Residents can report issues, while neighbours can upvote and validate those reports, helping councils identify which problems have the greatest shared impact. This creates a more accurate and democratic picture of local priorities.

Beyond reporting, Council Connect introduces a transparency layer that tracks ongoing council projects—such as roadworks—against their stated timelines. Residents can easily understand what is happening in their area, whether projects are on schedule, and how delays are being handled.

Artificial Intelligence enhances the platform by helping users write clearer, more actionable reports, translating technical council language into plain English, and identifying clusters of related issues that may indicate systemic problems.

Ultimately, Council Connect does not replace council decision-making—it strengthens it. By improving visibility, communication, and accountability, the platform empowers both residents and councils to collaborate more effectively in improving local communities.

The Concept in One Paragraph

An intuitive platform that lets residents report local issues (potholes, broken streetlights, housing problems) to their council, while allowing neighbours to upvote reports that affect them too. This transforms isolated individual complaints into visible community priorities. An additional transparency layer tracks ongoing roadworks and council projects against their stated deadlines, creating gentle accountability. AI assists residents in writing effective reports and helps surface clusters of related issues.

D. Roadworks & Deadline Transparency Layer

This feature addresses a key gap: residents do not just want to report new issues—they want to understand what is already happening in their area and whether it is on track.

What Currently Exists

  • one.network is the UK’s authoritative source of roadworks data, used by 170+ highway authorities
  • Public map of current and planned works
  • Email alerts available

Limitations:

  • Data presented in engineering jargon
  • Designed for professionals, not residents
  • No interaction or accountability mechanisms
  • No simple local summaries

What Council Connect Adds

  • Human-readable summaries
    Plain English explanations of projects
    Example: “Thames Water is replacing a water main. Started 10 March, due 28 March.”

  • Deadline tracking with visual indicators

    • 🟢 Green: On track
    • 🟠 Amber: Approaching deadline
    • 🔴 Red: Overdue

  • Delay context
    Councils/contractors provide explanations for missed deadlines

  • Impact reporting
    Residents log effects (noise, access issues, business disruption)

  • Completion verification
    Community confirms or flags incomplete/substandard work

Where AI Fits Naturally

  • Report writing assistance
    Converts vague descriptions into structured, actionable reports

  • Cluster detection
    Identifies patterns across multiple reports
    Example: “23 residents reported drainage issues in KT2”

  • Jargon translation
    Converts council/contractor language into plain English

  • Smart categorisation
    Automatically routes reports to the correct department

E. Preparing for Judge Questions

Mandatory Questions

Q: Who are you building this for and why do they need it?

We are building this for residents who experience local issues but face fragmented and opaque reporting systems. Currently, councils use separate forms for different issue types, making it difficult to see the full picture.

Residents cannot tell if others are affected, and councils cannot easily detect community-wide problems. Reports disappear into systems with little feedback.

Our platform serves:

  • Primary users: Residents who want to improve their neighbourhood
  • Secondary users: Council officers who benefit from aggregated, validated data

Q: What could go wrong and what would you do about it?

  • Digital exclusion
    → Printable reports + council-assisted submissions

  • Popularity bias
    → Combine upvotes with severity flags and professional judgement

  • False expectations
    → Transparent council responses and timeline explanations

Q: How does this help people rather than make decisions for them?

Council Connect:

  • Amplifies resident voices
  • Makes community priorities visible
  • Improves transparency of council actions

It does not replace council decision-making—only improves the information available.

Likely Follow-Up Questions

Q: How is this different from FixMyStreet?

  • FixMyStreet → Individual reporting
  • Council Connect → Community prioritisation + transparency layer

We answer:
👉 “How do we show this matters to all of us?”

Q: How would you get councils to engage?

  • Reduces duplicate reports
  • Provides cleaner, aggregated data
  • Opportunity for councils to demonstrate responsiveness
  • Potential integration with existing systems

Q: What's your data model?

Issue Reports:

  • Location (lat/long + postcode)
  • Category
  • Description
  • Severity
  • Reporter (anonymised)
  • Timestamp
  • Status
  • Upvotes

Roadworks Data:

  • Source: one.network + DfT Street Manager
  • Includes timelines, status, responsible parties

Q: How do you prevent harassment?

  • Reports focus on issues, not individuals
  • Moderated comments
  • Clear community guidelines
  • AI-assisted moderation

Q: Doesn’t this just create more visible frustration?

We acknowledge budget constraints.

However:

  • Improves information symmetry
  • Helps councils allocate resources more effectively
  • Transparency builds trust—even when action is delayed

Q: Business model?

  • Hackathon focus: social impact
  • Potential model:
    • Freemium SaaS for councils
    • Subscription-based premium features
    • Similar to mySociety / FixMyStreet Pro

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