Cheshire East Council is looking at changes to the ‘current operating model’ of its public space CCTV by reducing its control room operator cover.
In a report to the council’s Environment Committee, ahead of the meeting at Macclesfield on January 30, Tom Shuttleworth, Interim Director of Planning and Environment reviewed the CCTV service. A range of proposals, from doing nothing to shutting the service altogether, offered various cuts, most substantially leaving no operator cover between 11pm and 7am each day when ‘there would be camera recording only’.
As elsewhere, the council’s CCTV provides support to internal council departments such as housing, and highways; and offers a paid-for service, typically to local town and parish councils, besides businesses. The report noted that such income has increased by 33 per cent over the last five years thanks to new external monitoring contracts. The biggest ‘customer’ as elsewhere for the council’s control room is Cheshire Police; hence the council has approached the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for money.
As for costs, and Mr Shuttleworth noted that the council faces a ‘very challenging financial climate’, the CCTV service generates about £232,000 of income, leaving a net cost of £452,000, given its budget is about £684,000 (about three quarters going on staff pay, of £519,000). The monitoring, including with links to the local pub and shop watches and a po-lice Airwave Radio, is 24-7, by two 12-hour shifts. As elsewhere, outside of office hours for the Customer Service Centre, the control room takes calls to the council.
Numbers
The council has 165 fixed cameras, a total that’s risen slightly in recent years, plus 25 mobile-deployable cameras (that have taken off greatly in the last few years) for use in ‘hot spot are-as’, typically to target antisocial behaviour and fly tipping. The CCTV control room also mon-itors 138 other cameras in car parks, retail parks and some council facilities. At a capital cost of £205,000, in November 2024 the CCTV service went wireless across the district. Among the control room’s incident data presented to councillors, Saturday is the day with most incidents, and Monday the least. The main town in terms of coverage and incidents is Crewe; followed by Macclesfield, Congleton, Nantwich, Wilmslow and Sandbach.
Kent towns
Meanwhile in Kent, Swale Borough Council has installed six cameras in Sittingbourne and Sheerness (pictured) town centres, adding to the 300 cameras across the borough already being monitored 24/7 by the council’s CCTV control room. An extra three mobile deployment cameras, for install in locations that see a spike in crime, have also been purchased. It’s part of the council’s Safer Street project. Richard Palmer, chair of Swale’s Community and Leisure Committee, said: “Our CCTV control room works incredibly hard to monitor the borough’s cameras day and night and have had success helping the police stop, catch and prosecute people committing crimes or nuisance in towns across the borough.
“It is the communication between our officers and Kent Police that makes this network of cameras so effective, and is why adding these additional resources, paid for by our Safer Streets campaign, will help keep people safe.
“One of the reasons it has so helpful in stopping crime and making sure people get the help they need is because the control room show first responders live footage from the cameras allowing them to respond immediately, once they arrive to the scene.”
Grimsby town centre has 18 new cameras, managed and operated by North East Lincolnshire Council’s delivery partner Equans, installed around the new Riverhead Square. The district’s CCTV in 2022 had a £2.25m overhaul. The council points to crime reduced by 11pc in Grimsby town centre over the previous 12 months. From September to December 2024, cameras helped emergency services with 555 incidents including arson, theft and assaults; and following shoplifters fleeing Freshney Place.
The square was opened in July, funded as one of the projects included in the Town Deal by central Government; the money was secured in 2020 and is ring-fenced for projects.
Councillor Ron Shepherd, Portfolio Holder for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: “These new cameras are a great addition to what is already an incredibly successful initiative. Our CCTV system is state-of-the-art to help keep this borough safe and feel comfortable whilst walking around areas like Riverhead Square. These cameras will undoubtedly build upon the reduction in Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and crime across the area that we are currently experiencing.”
