In Cambridge, the city council spends £526,000 a year on public CCTV (pictured), which contributes to community safety, helps to prevent crime in hotspot areas, and provides evidence to the police. This covers both fixed CCTV cameras, and a few re-deployable cameras which can be moved to areas of concern. Should the council reduce the amount it spends on CCTV?
That’s among the questions in a council consultation as Cambridge, like many others in local government, seeks to make cuts to balance the books. Simon Smith, Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources in Cambridge, said: “Due to factors largely outside our control, including years of austerity and rising inflation, our operating costs are increasing, and our income is not keeping up. It is not sustainable for our outgoings to be higher than our income year after year, so we need to identify where we can increase our income and reduce our costs.
“Because of the work we’ve done to date, we still have the time to take a measured approach, focusing on modernising the way we work and finding efficiencies to bring down costs in the longer term, while having healthy reserves to draw on to help cover short-term costs.”
The council spends about £97m a year. In September, the council committed to savings of £6m a year by April 2026. It proposed saving £2.5m by changes to its organisational structure, and £3.5m by charging for some council services, or increasing charges.
After going out to consultation in the summer, Shropshire Council is proposing to do away with its 24-7 monitored CCTV service. Instead of paid control room operators, it says it’d look to recruit volunteers for CCTV monitoring.
Shropshire Council wholly funds the staff and running costs of CCTV monitoring for Shrewsbury. In other towns in the county, CCTV is run and funded (or not) by the town or parish council.
Robert Macey, Shropshire’s Cabinet member for culture and digital, said: “This is another decision we have never wanted to face but, given our financial challenge due to rising costs and growing demand particularly for social care which accounts for £4 in every £5 we spend, we now have no choice.
“To become financially sustainable, we must review all non-statutory services we provide, such as CCTV monitoring and look at how we can do this more efficiently, reduce costs or stop altogether. The option proposed allows CCTV to continue operating 24/7 supported by best endeavours monitoring and exploring volunteer support, while making savings.
“We are grateful to our partners for their understanding of the very difficult situation we face and to Shrewsbury Town Council for their support for maintenance costs which until now Shropshire Council had met. I am afraid that people in Shropshire will see more and more of these very difficult decisions as more measures come forward to tackle our budget deficit fuelled mainly by rising demand and inflation.”
As previously reported, Surrey Police used to monitor the county’s CCTV from a police station; that has had to shut because of crumbling RAAC concrete, leaving councils to pick up monitoring (or not). In Mole Valley, the district council (MVDC) ran a public consultation in the autumn of 2023. The council now proposes record-only CCTV of its cameras. Keira Vyvyan-Robinson, MVDC’s Cabinet Member for Property and Projects, said: “We really appreciated the responses of residents and understand how important CCTV is to them in feeling safe in our towns and villages. As a result, even though we as a district council do not have a statutory responsibility to provide CCTV, we have committed to investing in the continued provision of public realm CCTV in Mole Valley. Once the existing network has been upgraded and the number and locations of the cameras agreed, we will be exploring other opportunities to increase coverage across the district, including speaking to partner organisations and reaching out further afield.”
