Cheshire East Council is asking town and parish councils across the borough to contribute towards the cost of running CCTV cameras, otherwise they will no longer be monitored or replaced.
The Council is looking to save money but has not requested a specific contribution at this stage towards maintaining the surveillance cameras.
Speaking about the letter he had received from Cheshire East, Cllr Frank Keegan said "Having got us to cough up money to put in the CCTV, Cheshire East, who inherited the asset from Macclesfield, are now talking about asking us to pay a contribution towards operating them."
He added "I can't actually respond to it as I think its a disgrace - the sort of things they are asking us to take over now. It would be bad enough if we actually just do it and get on with it and actually see the saving at central point but we're not actually seeing that saving."
Councillor Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council, said: "Cheshire East Council is not intending to pass on responsibility for CCTV cameras to town and parish councils.
"We simply want these bodies to buy into the surveillance and protection of our people. We are asking them for a contribution to the running costs.
"Where no commitment is made the cameras will remain in place but this will be on a record basis only, meaning they would not be actively monitored by our operators or be maintained or replaced.
"It is important to Cheshire East to work together with local elected representatives and we welcome the opportunity to meet town and parish councils and listen to their thoughts on how we can work together in the future."
We have three CCTV cameras in Alderley Edge, located outside the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Nat West Bank.
Cllr Keegan continued "This is the thing that's annoying, where we have problems with anti-social parking, it ought to be a function of the CCTV to identify it. Those people in West Street, the taxi drivers, they sit under the CCTV all night, one parks on the pavement at Barclays and one parks right up on the pavement at the chemist - it is virtually impossible to get round."
Comments
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"We simply want these bodies to buy into the surveillance and protection of our people."
Sends a shiver down the spine doesn't it?
How many times did we have robberies in the village before CCTV and how many after we have had it?
A deterrent which stops crime is sometimes as good as a system which catches the criminals. CCTV could actually be used to target the problem cars which are illegally parking.
Fristly I think it would be more meaningful if people were informed of the estimate cost to run these 3 units for the 1 year. So we can judge if they are charging us too much (like those pathetic Christmas Trees).
Secondly, as the case you have highlighted, having these CCTVs also benefitted other CEC areas and the police force to solve crimes.
Thirdly, it would be good to know if CEC have asked all the other wards/parish councils to pay for their own CCTV?
Can't help feeling that CEC is not being fair when it comes to spending money at around Alderley.
We have a way to go before we agree to pay anything; Alderley Edge paid for the CCTV when Macc was the Authority. Yes they have asked other Parishes (but we, locally, agreed that once we have set budgets, we are not paying - at least this year)
We have the costs; I will find the email and update you later, but, before we talk to CEC about payments, they will need to explain why AEPC is asked to pay, when Crewe and Macclesfield will not pay, because they have no Parish/Town Council.
The point about wider community benefit has been lost on CEC. The ciggie robbery would never have been solved if AEPC had not had CCTV.
interested to read of its use in getting a result in solving a crime ,funny to think that something that now is just a part of the street scape of our village has another role so useful.