Parish Council to pay £5500 for CCTV

cctv

Alderley Edge Parish Council (AEPC) has agreed to contribute towards the cost of maintaining the CCTV cameras in the village.

They will pay £5500 to cover the three surveillance cameras in the village centre for a year - so they are monitored, maintained and replaced where necessary during the period.

To help save money, Cheshire East Council asked 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.

Speaking at the Parish Council meeting on Monday, 8th October, Cllr Sue Joseph said "Councillor Keegan, myself and Councillor Williamson went to the operations centre at Macclesfield Town Hall last month to view what happens and Councillor Maczkowiak went earlier.

"It was very interesting. We have three cameras in the village, at the RBS, Barclays and NatWest, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much they do show and how manoeuvrable they are. For example you can go from Barclays right the way down West Street to the post office, there was a taxi parked on the pavement outside the chemists, totally illegally, and you could pick up who it was and one had parked on double yellow lines by NatWest and they could get the camera to twist round to pick up the number plate."

"There was very much a plea for us to fund it. It is a considerable amount of money when taken as a percentage of the precept but having seen it I am much more convinced that it is probably money well spent."

Cllr Joseph added "They've had positive response from it and also it is felt to be a deterent."

The Parish Council voted unanimously to pay the £5500 requested by Cheshire East Council for the CCTV from their annual precept of £120,000 (the precept is the part of your council tax which is charged by the Parish Council).

Tags:
Alderley Edge Parish Council, CCTV
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Alan R Davies
Tuesday 9th September 2014 at 12:18 pm
I don't see how this saves money. If the Parish Council spends £5500 rather than Cheshire East, that's not a saving, it's just moving the cost around. I don't doubt that the cameras can monitor illegal parking and more serious illegal acts, but if the police take no action as a result then it's a waste of money.
Sue Joseph
Tuesday 9th September 2014 at 2:45 pm
There have been positive results in police arrests of offenders previously and as an event takes place the people monitoring the cameras inform the police who can then respond. In addition the recordings are saved for 21 days which means that they can provide evidence of offences.
The PC will be receiving reports from the centre on a regular basis which will, for example enable us to write to taxi companies who blatantly ignore parking restrictions and if they continue to offend we will report them to the licensing authority which can lead to them losing their licence.
I agree that this only saves money for CEC and puts it onto the PC. Initially my reaction was to refuse to pay for the cameras but having seen how they operate and the benefit they can give feel that it is better to pay for them than to lose them.
Nigel Beesley
Tuesday 9th September 2014 at 4:11 pm
It seems that drivers are being penalized for "illegal parking"where there is a necessity to use Banking facilities and for Taxi firms to operate their legal business.
Henry D Johnstone
Thursday 11th September 2014 at 3:01 pm
As a business owner in the village with a vested interest in security I am entirely behind the parish councils decision to keep the CCTV operational within the village. Not only does it help to give the village a degree of passive security linked directly to the police to deter serious crime but if it can be used to manage some of the misdemeanor offences so blatantly and consistently committed by drivers professional or otherwise then I for one am all for it.