CCTV cuts approved by cash strapped council

Cameras in Shrewsbury town centre will keep recording, but round-the-clock monitoring will stop

Shropshire Council has said it cannot “kick the can down the road any longer” and has approved cuts to 24-hour CCTV monitoring for Shrewsbury.

The reduction will save the cash strapped authority about £350,000 per year as it struggles to close a £62.5m funding gap in its budget in the current financial year.

Difficult decisions must be made to protect essential services, councillor Rob Macey, portfolio holder for culture and digital, said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Under the plans, recorded footage would still be made available to West Mercia Police and volunteers would help monitor CCTV in the town.

The decision to revert to a reduced system of reactive monitoring came after a public consultation over the plans.

About 65% of people who responded said that the council should approach its partners in the scheme to cover a £334,000 funding gap.

But councillor Dean Carroll told the meeting that discussions with partnership organisations including police, Shrewsbury Town Council and Shrewsbury BID had revealed other agencies were also unable to make up for the financial shortfall.

'24/7 monitoring is expensive'

“Let's remember that Shrewsbury is the only town in Shropshire for which Shropshire Council funds and operates CCTV provision," Mr Carroll said.

"All of the other market towns it’s either the town councils or town partnerships operate CCTV in those towns – however we recognise the county town has a greater strategic importance.

“We’re now in a position where we couldn’t kick the can down the road any further because of our own financial position and as the position of those partner organisations haven’t changed… the harsh reality is that 24/7 monitoring is expensive."

Earlier this week, council leader Lezley Picton said the authority was "unbelievably close" to effectively declaring itself bankrupt.

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