Council announces CCTV is working in Newbury

West Berkshire Council has announced that all cameras are operating successfully, following weeks of uncertainty

FOLLOWING weeks of uncertainty, West Berkshire Council has announced that all of the CCTV cameras in Newbury are now working.

A statement released on Tuesday by the authority said: “All of the cameras are operating and recording successfully, and 18 of the 21 cameras in Newbury are being monitored live 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the new control room in Windsor.”

A link will also be installed to Newbury Police Station and Thames Valley Police Control Room so that officers can view live and recorded footage.

The move to the new hi-tech system in Windsor and Maidenhead is expected to save the council £250,000.

The entire switch-over project is still not complete however, and the status of the remaining 19 cameras across the district is unclear.

Newbury Labour Party spokeman Richard Garvie, while praising the council for the upgrade, criticised the timing of the release and said he disputed that all the cameras were operational, citing information published on the West Berkshire Council website under the heading “CCTV systems in West Berkshire”.

Mr Garvie requested a copy of the CCTV project transfer plan, and has responded to the document on the Newbury Labour Party website, claiming that correspondence with council chiefs indicated that upgrades to some dome cameras is still ongoing.

"I was promised information from the chief executive of the council, and despite waiting over a month, the officers in question have provided me with a spreadsheet that I could have put together in twenty minutes,” he said.

“It's about time we had a full and independent investigation on this matter, and that action is taken against those who appear to have tried to conceal the facts of what has happened,” he added.

A spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt, said: “We are still awaiting a final update on the cameras outside Newbury so are not in a position to confirm any numbers yet.”

The West Berkshire executive member for community safety, Anthony Stansfeld (Con, Kintbury), said he was delighted to see the new system fully operational in Newbury.

“We take our responsibilities to protect resident's safety very seriously,” he added.

At a meeting of the Newbury Retail Association on Tuesday, chairman Brian Burgess said he was very grateful that the new system was up and running in Newbury, but that the town's retailers had no confidence those responsible for the incidents of anti-social behavior and crime over recent months would be brought to justice.

However the West Berkshire Local Police Area Commander, Supt Robin Rickard, has hailed the new system.

"The new CCTV arrangements are a really positive move in that the evidential quality of the picture is now far greater than it has been previously.

"Clearly, CCTV is only one element of a crime investigation and cannot on its own prevent and detect crime. However, it is a really valuable tool when it records crime and criminal activity,” he said.

The Liberal Democrats have requested a review of the CCTV switch-over to be carried out by the council's Overview and Scrutiny panel.

A vote on the matter will take place on Tuesday, March 1.