Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Planning & Public Protection / Public Protection Manager (copy attached) to provide Members with an update on the Council’s CCTV exit strategy including working with Partners to try and secure an alternative CCTV delivery model for the future.

9.40 a.m. – 10.15 a.m.

The Lead Member for Public Realm, Councillor David Smith, introduced the report (previously circulated) to provide Members with an update on the Council’s CCTV exit strategy including working with Partners to secure an alternative CCTV delivery model for the future.

Members had decided as part of the Council’s Freedoms and Flexibilities process that the Council should no longer be funding or managing the CCTV service from the 1 April 2016.  This would deliver savings of £200k for 2016/17. 

Whilst the proposal to cease delivering the service had been approved, Members had acknowledged the benefits of the non-statutory service and had, therefore, requested that a Working Group be established. The Working Group would work with partners to explore and secure a possible alternative model for delivering a CCTV service for the future. 

The Lead Member and Public Protection Manager informed the Committee that:

·       A broad agreement had been reached with the partners listed in the report on a model that would deliver an acceptable level of CCTV from April 2016 onwards.  No legal agreement had yet been signed.  The Working Group comprised of representatives from each of the partner organisations was scheduled to hold another meeting on 17 August, 2015 with a view to formalising an agreement at that meeting.

·       An agreement would be required in the near future to enable the statutory redundancy process for the cessation of the present service to commence during October 2015.

·       Details of each partner organisation’s proposed financial contribution towards a new service were included in the report.  If agreed, this would provide almost sufficient income to offset the costs of the new model of service being the provision of a recorded CCTV service.

Discussion took place and the following advice was given by officers and the Lead Member:

·       North Wales Police contributed £16.5k towards the provision of a CCTV service to each Local Authority across North Wales.  This amount had been an historic agreement based on the salary of a CCTV operator some years ago.  The Police service was not willing to increase its contribution at this time due to the cuts faced to its budget, similar to those faced by Local Authorities.  The Police service’s contribution did not reflect the level of crime or anti-social behaviour in any of the local authority areas.

·       Proposed future contributions from the three town councils, which currently benefitted from the county CCTV system, had been calculated by the Working Group on an approximate maximum maintenance and operational cost of £850 per camera, subject to each Town Council’s financial means.

·       The Police and Crime Commissioner grant funding for the prevention of anti-social behaviour, could only be utilised for redeployable/mobile CCTV equipment, not static cameras.

·       If, in the future, any Town Councils required additional cameras to be installed in their areas, they would need to secure funding to purchase, operate and maintain any additional equipment.  These matters would eventually be covered in the legal agreement.

·       The initial contract would be for 12 months, thereafter, it would be reviewed on an annual basis by a CCTV Board.  It had been anticipated that the present Working Group would be re-established as a Board to oversee and monitor the new service provision once the legal agreement had been finalised and signed by all parties.

·       The Committee were informed of details of an agreement which had been in place between the Council and businesses on the Colomendy Industrial Estate in Denbigh, with regards to the operation of a CCTV system installed there some years ago.  The agreement was no longer in place due to changes to a business on the estate who had hosted the receiver.

·       Rhyl Town Council had discussed the possibility of rationalising the CCTV coverage in the town.  The proposal would be fed back to the Working Group, as would a proposal of using redundant equipment to replace broken equipment or to be used as additional cameras.

·       Discussions were currently underway with the current service’s eight members of staff (both full-time and part-time) and their trade union representatives with respect to potential redundancies.

·       A number of alternative options had been discussed by the Working Group prior to the proposal contained in the report being put forward as the preferred way forward.

·       The proposed model under consideration would provide a manageable service, be it a reduced service, which had the potential to evolve and grow in the future i.e. by working with private businesses to secure funding for a service and possibly utilising businesses and private individuals’ own CCTV footage for the benefit of the entire community.

Following the discussion, Officers agreed to provide Members with:

·       Details of the insurance cover for CCTV cameras (what costs are and are not covered by the insurance).

·       The actual formula for calculating the town councils’ contribution for the proposed new model of service.

·       To ask the CCTV Board in due course to explore options for growing the service utilising private funding and co-ordinating the use of the public CCTV system with privately owned CCTV systems for the benefit of the County’s residents in order to keep everyone safe and with a view to reducing crime.

·       Copies of the minutes of the Working Group’s meeting being held on 17 August, to be circulated to the Partnership Scrutiny Committee Members and each Member Area Group (MAG) for information, and

·       That information on the alternative Council Out of Hours Service, following the cessation of the CCTV service, to be provided for Members.

Members emphasised the importance of notes/minutes being kept of all meeting, including Boards and MAGs, for the purpose of providing a detailed audit trail and sufficient information to enable Members to take informed decisions.

RESOLVED that subject to the above and the provision of the requested information:

(a)  Support the work done by Officers to date in progressing the decision to close down the Council’s CCTV function, while exploring possible alternative delivery models, and

(b)  That a further report be presented to the Committee in January 2016, outlining the progress made with respect to exiting the current CCTV service, the conclusion of the work undertaken by the CCTV Working Group to develop a new minimal CCTV model (funded by partners) from April 2016, and if successful the Board’s proposals with respect to developing the service in future.