Will council cuts drive visitors away from town?

Plans to raise car parking fees and scrap CCTV cameras will have negative impact on economy, it is claimed

CCTV in Newbury, Thatcham and Greenham could be scrapped, public toilets and the Visitor Information Centre in Newbury are under threat of closure and car parking charges are to increase.

Is West Berkshire Council driving people away from town with its latest cuts proposals?

In the past month, three local businesses – Budgens in Wash Common and Liberty Flights and Tiy Tea Bar in Newbury – have all been broken into and had items stolen.

Over the past three weeks in Victoria Park alone, there have been drugs arrests – one of which saw £10,000 worth of cocaine and heroin dumped in the boating lake – and teenagers being chased with a knife.

In addition, there has been a recent series of assaults and attempted robberies in Greenham and Newbury.

However, this week West Berkshire Council said it planned to turn off 40 CCTV cameras in the district – 28 of them in Newbury, Greenham and Thatcham – so it can save £225,000 as part of its wider plan to slash £4.6m from frontline services over the next financial year.

The district’s CCTV cameras are currently monitored 24/7 by the control room at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council.

West Berkshire Council’s CCTV control room was transferred to Windsor and Maidenhead in December 2010 in order for the council to save £250,000 a year.

The council says it currently receives no funding from towns, parishes or police, adding that many councils across the country have already closed down CCTV without a negative effect on crime levels.

It added that unless it receives assurances from the appropriate town and parish councils and from Thames Valley Police that they are prepared to fully fund this service, it will suspend it from April 2016.

Businesses are also being hit by the news that the council wants to increase car parking charges in Newbury next year, by up to 50p per hour.

It is also looking at the possibility of closing the Visitor Information Centre and the public toilets at The Wharf and Pembroke Road.

Tze Mo, the owner of Tiy Tea Bar in Newbury, said: “We need more CCTV cameras, not less.

“It is a worry they are talking about this and more people could be broken into like us.”

Julian Swift-Hook, who sits on both Newbury Town Council and Greenham Parish Council, said: “West Berkshire Council is trying to strangle the town centre even more by hiking car parking charges yet again.

“Parking in Newbury is already very expensive, and the council’s plans will drive even more trade away from Newbury and into the arms of the out-of-town shops.

“In terms of the Visitor Information Centre, clearly the council doesn’t think it is important to look after visitors to the district.

“The centre supports the tourist economy in the whole of West Berkshire, not just Newbury, so why does the council expect the Newbury taxpayer to pick up the tab?

“The shift to online information services works for some people, but thousands of visitors to the area every year simply don’t have iPads.

“For Newbury Town Council to find the £70,000 needed to take over The Wharf toilets, the town’s precept will have to rise by 0.75 per cent, or other services will have to be cut, such as support for the Newbury Wardens or CAB.

“Once again, it’s the most vulnerable people, such as young families and the elderly, who are hit by these cuts.”