The City Security Council (CSC) has a new London chair: Scott Gough, as of January 2024. He succeeds Ashley Fernandes, the Executive Director – Corporate Security at the guard firm ICTS (UK) who has served as chair for the past two years and who will remain on the board of directors.
Scott has over 25 years’ experience working at all levels of security and risk management within the London region. He has been involved in the Council since it began in 2018, and has led the CSC Operations Board for the past three years. He is a committee member of the City of London Crime Prevention Association, and a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (WCoSP). He’s MD of the guarding firm Unitrust Protection Services.
Scott Gough was interviewed in the May print edition of Professional Security Magazine; and Ashley Fernandes in September’s.
The City Security Council was originally set up as a group of security companies based in the City of London. Their aim; to support of the City of London Police and the City of London Corporation in times of crisis or during any significant event in the City; and build good relations in between times. Work has included the CityINTEL incident and communication platform; offering training on responses to major incidents; an intelligence group. The CSC’s remit has evolved. It’s now recognised as a voice in the security industry and is a supporting member of the umbrella group the Security Commonwealth. Geographically the membership is now open to any UK based security company that’s an SIA-approved contractor, or is working towards the relevant British Standard.
Scott said: “I am delighted to be Chairing the CSC London Region for the next two years and look forward to working with all the member organisations as we continue to develop the capabilities and value of the Council. I’d like to thank the previous chair Ashley Fernandes, for his tremendous work over the past two years, continuing to build upon the solid foundations laid by [previous chairs] Neill Catton and David Ward CSyP FSyI. The CSC has continually demonstrated the value of collaboration between our industry and our colleagues within the Emergency Services, helping to showcase our incident response capabilities and raise awareness of the valuable contribution our frontline security professionals make to the safety and security of the communities we live and work in.”
David Ward, founder of the CSC, said: “Scott is an excellent appointment to the CSC regional chair. He brings considerable knowledge and experience, along with a huge amount of enthusiasm for the role. I am sure he will be in an ideal position to take over from Ashley and help continue to drive forward the council’s objectives during his term. We look forward to working with him.”
David added that he wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of all the CSC members to thank Ashley Fernandes, for his stalwart leadership and for all that he did in continuing to grow the Council.
