CCTV has ‘not helped one iota’ (From Ledbury Reporter)

CCTV has ‘not helped one iota’

11:32am Friday 26th January 2007

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LEDBURY Town Council could withhold a £6,000 payment for CCTV maintenance in the town centre, following fears the system may not be worth the money.

At a meeting last week, members deferred a decision on whether to approve the annual payment to Herefordshire Council.

Coun Martin Eager presented Herefordshire Council's own figures which showed that, of more than 500 incidents recorded by CCTV cameras during the last quarter locally, only six came from Ledbury.

He said: "Either we do not have much crime in our town centre, or the cameras are not being monitored.

"What I wanted was a complete cessation of payment to Herefordshire Council. But a letter will be sent to them, demanding to know why so few incidents have been recorded. If we do not get a satisfactory answer, we will withdraw funding."

These moves will be subject to a decision at the next meeting of the full town council on February 22.

When Herefordshire Council took over the ageing CCTV cameras from the town council several years ago, it was originally hoped that the town centre would be monitored 24 hours a day from a central control.

Since then, several incidents, including a ram-raid on Coun Eager's electrical shop in the Homend, have shown this is not always the case.

The cameras are recording 24 hours a day, but they are often not monitored in the early hours.

Coun Eager said: "Regarding the incidents that affected us, there have been no arrests, no gathering of evidence from those cameras. They have not helped one iota."

Coun Noel Roberts, who chaired last week's meeting, said: "I don't believe we are being monitored, to be quite honest, and if Herefordshire Council cuts the cameras off, would it matter?"

Herefordshire councillor Roy Stockton, cabinet member for community services, said that CCTV had recorded around 100 incidents in Ledbury during 2006 and he was proud of that achievement.

He added: "We will wait to hear any representations from the town council and we will be happy to discuss the issue further with them."

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