Council backs 10k extra to boost CCTV

AN ADDITIONAL £10,000 pot of cash will be put aside to boost CCTV coverage in Worcester during the night-time economy and major events.

Council leader Simon Geraghty (Cons, St Clement) agreed to the move during a meeting of Worcester City Council’s cabinet on Tuesday (February 12).

It was in response to a plea from Labour councillor Joy Squires to fund extra monitoring in the city during busy periods such as the run-up to Christmas and the popular Victorian Christmas Fayre.

Coun Geraghty backed the cash boost despite insisting there was no problem with the existing CCTV coverage.

“Over the last year we’ve had the Queen’s visit, the torch relay, we’ve had to respond to the opening of The Hive, and generally there doesn’t seem to be a general problem with CCTV,” he said.

“I don’t think there is evidence of a problem but we are minded to put in a small buffer to guard against anything which could come up in the future.”

Coun Jabba Riaz (Cons, Cathedral), cabinet member for Safer and Stronger Communities, added: “From a city point of view we’ve demonstrated we are capable of ensuring the safety of our citizens.”

Coun Squires had made the request during a meeting of the council’s performance management and budget scrutiny board last Tuesday (February 5) and said the fund could be managed by a partnership of bodies who would decide how cash was spent and where the extra CCTV monitoring was required.

Worcester’s CCTV cameras are monitored from a centre in Pershore as part of a shared-service with Wychavon District Council.

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