Agenda item

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

To consider the petition ‘Requesting the installation of CCTV in Caludon Park’ bearing 1858 signatures, which is being supported by Councillor F Abbott, a Wyken Ward Councillor, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with the petition organiser.

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services which responded to a petition that requested CCTV to be installed at Caludon Park.

The petition bearing 1858 signatures was submitted to the Council in July 2021 and was supported by Councillor F Abbott. The petition read: “We the undersigned petition the Council to provide CCTV coverage for the park to stop our children being assaulted and so that people are no longer afraid to walk through”.

In addition, the petition provided the following justification: “After several recent attacks the local community have finally had enough”.

Caludon Castle Park is an area of green space within the portfolio of Streetscene and Greenspace. It is a popular and highly valued park which is well used by the local community. The park is a designated Green Flag Park which is an internationally recognised standard of excellence. The Park is situated within the Wyken Ward and is 99,010 sqm in area. 

Approximately, 10 years ago, the Parks Service independently purchased two NOMAD camera systems including one for Caludon Castle Park.

These cameras were independent to those managed by ESU or West Midlands Police and were not part of the City Council’s core CCTV network. The cameras record images for 72 hours before it is recorded over, therefore, any data has to be downloaded within 72 hours of the incident. This has to be done on site via a laptop with suitable wireless technology and can be transferred to a flash drive memory stick.

If the Police required any recorded footage, they had to apply to the City Council Information Governance Team and would need to provide a completed WA170 Digital Viewing Request form. The Parks Service would be notified and would meet with a designated police officer in the park and using a dedicated laptop, download the required footage. The footage would need to be saved to a memory stick to be kept by the police. This is a laborious and outdated operation and no longer compliant with legislation including BS 7958:2016, the Information Commissioner’s CCTV Code of Practice or the Coventry Communications Centre CCTV Control Room Code of Practice for CCT.

There are over 200 green spaces administered by the City Council. The Park Service receive many requests for CCTV to be provided in our parks and green spaces. Such requests would need to be balanced against various considerations such as:

a.  Costs – the estimated cost of installing a new fully compliant CCTV system in the Park is approximately £15,700 (November 2021), with an additional cost of approximately £40,000 to link up the system. This did not include the annual monitoring and maintenance costs for the new cameras. The cost of supplying and monitoring the number of cameras required to monitor the entirety of a large park such as Caludon Castle Park was outside of the Parks Service budget.

b.  Number and severity of reported incidents – overall the number of reported incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour was relatively low. Over the past 12 months, the police had received 24 calls and attended 4 recorded incidents relating to the Park.

c.  Camera effectiveness – it would be impracticable to provide a consistent level of visual surveillance across a natural green space such as a park. In addition, the perpetrators of crime and anti-social behaviour are aware of the limits of CCTV and would take measures to avoid being seen by the cameras. Furthermore, the most frequent time for ASB and crime to occur is in low light conditions such as at night when even new ‘starlight’ cameras are least effective.

Crime and anti-social disorder does still occur in the park, albeit infrequently and despite the presence of existing CCTV. Even where there are relatively new CCTV cameras installed in other parks around the city, they do not deter crime and anti-social behaviour. That said, all incidents, no matter how minor, are taken very seriously. In an on-going effort to keep crime and anti-social behaviour as low as possible in Caludon Park and other parks across the city, officers worked closely with colleagues in Community Safety and received support from the neighbourhood policing team who provided regular patrols of Caludon Park. In this instance, it was believed that new cameras would not deter anti-social behaviour from occurring within this park and hence cannot justify the cost of providing them. Furthermore, with the need to comply with the new legislation governing CCTV and the apparent lack of effectiveness of the current cameras, meant that the existing cameras must be removed.

Officers would continue to work with the local police service and community safety team to maintain regular patrols of the park. Work would also continue with local residents to encourage positive use of the park and to consider the creation of a new ‘Friends of Caludon Castle’ residents’ group.

Councillor F Abbott, the petition sponsor was unable to attend the meeting and had submitted comments for the Cabinet Member to consider. She stated that whilst she understood the cost implications of implementing new CCTV in the park, she also fully understood the concerns of the petitioners. She accepted that although the number of reported incidents were small, the serious nature of the incidents that had taken place had left local residents concerned about using the park. 

Councillor Abbott further commented that she would welcome the promotion of local people using the park, the more it is used by local residents as a family venue, the safer the park would feel. Furthermore, she added that she would be grateful if officers could liaise with the petition organiser and Ward Councillors to find ways to promote the park for local residents and to identify any other appropriate measures that could be taken to ensure locals feel safe when using the park. 

The Cabinet Member having considered the report, the representations made at the meeting and the comments submitted by Councillor Abbott, requested that officers continue to explore and secure all funding opportunities to facilitate the installation of new CCTV cameras in the park.

RESOVLED that, the Cabinet Member:

1.  Considered the content of the petition and notes the concerns of the petitioners.

2.  Notes the number of reported issues of anti-social behaviour recorded at Cauldon Park over the past 12 months.

3.  Notes the cost of installing CCTV at Caludon Park is estimated at £15,692.19

4.  Notes the park already has CCTV and the limited effectiveness it has in deterring crime and anti social behaviour.

5.  Endorses the actions being taken by the Parks Service Team and the Community Safety Team to reduce antisocial behaviour in Caludon Castle Park.

6.  Requests officers to liaise with the petition organiser and Ward Councillors to find ways to promote the park for local residents and to identify any other appropriate measures that can be taken to ensure locals feel safe when using the park.

7.  Requests officers to continue to seek out funding opportunities where possible to enable new CCTV cameras to be installed in the park.