CCTV plan for tower blocks over crime concerns

Most residents feel the city council should provide CCTV as a deterrent, a report for the authority says

New CCTV cameras are being considered for numerous tower blocks across Birmingham over concerns about issues including criminal damage, drug-taking and fires.

The city council is looking at how cameras could be reintroduced into its high and low-rise blocks and neighbourhoods to help people feel safer at home.

It wants to run a 12-month pilot scheme, based on sites that have experienced significant crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB), with the council's cabinet due to consider the proposal on 25 June.

The council decommissioned its CCTV in 2014, due to the cost involved in upgrading the system at the time.

"The council interacts with tenants and leaseholders in many ways in relation to housing issues,” a recently published report stated.

"A constant theme within these interactions is that the majority of tenants feel that the council should provide CCTV to act as a deterrent to crime and ASB."

The report acknowledged that since the decommissioning of the CCTV system, there had been an increase in crime and ASB within many blocks.

The council received 4,384 reports of ASB in 2022-23.

If the decision was made to continue with the cameras following the proposed 12-month pilot scheme, residents could then have to pay towards them as part of their service charge.

More than 1,160 tenancies would be affected by the pilot programme, and the cost to each would equate to £1.97 per week, the report stated.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.