Council refuses to pay for CCTV (From Free Press Series)

Council refuses to pay for CCTV

CHEPSTOW town councillors have again refused to sign a £1,000-a-month contract for closed circuit television - and will withhold support until they are convinced it can live up to its crime-busting reputation.

The town council has not been happy with the information it has received from Monmouthshire county council - which is responsible for the system - about the effectiveness of CCTV.

The county council has appointed a CCTV development officer, Donna Sidnell, and put a high-ranking officer - assistant chief executive John Palmer - in overall charge of the project to ensure it runs smoothly in future.

The system, which covers Abergavenny, Caldicot and Monmouth as well as Chepstow, was switched on in April last year and the plan was that town councils would make a contribution to costs.

While things have gone smoothly in the other towns, relations between the county council and Chepstow have not been so good - as Mr Palmer acknowledged in a meeting with town councillors.

He told the council: 'We are trying to resuscitate a bit of life into the CCTV arrangements.

"We know there have been shortcomings and we are here to talk about what needs to be improved."

He said the council would look at improving statistics to show the impact of the system on crime levels.

Mrs Hilary Beech said: "We have not had sufficient value which is why we are reluctant to make a relatively high financial commitment."

She also asked whether police officers were being replaced by CCTV because Chepstow is a relatively low-crime area.

Town councillors were critical of the lack of relevant statistics such as clear-up rates and comparative figures with the period before the introduction of CCTV in April 2003.

Mrs Veronica Crump said: "Things are worse than they were before CCTV. It has not helped one iota. Why should we pay for something that is of no advantage?"

Mrs Verona Bamford said: "We are anti because we have had no response, no reports, nothing."

Ms Sidnell said: "CCTV is a deterrent - we cannot say how many incidents have been prevented by it."

Mr Palmer added: "We can look into providing more useful statistics. There is no intention of replacing police with CCTV. It is just another tool."