Agenda item

Cllr Conway noted that in Opposition the new administration had repeatedly raised concerns that the CCTV in the Borough was not fit for purpose. However, the report highlighted that the situation is even worse than anticipated. Cllr Conway thanked staff for the extensive work on this area and welcomed and supports the business case for the new equipment.

Clair Green, Executive Director of Assurance noted that the outline business case was brought to the Communities, Leadership & Libraries Committee in October 2021 therefore the one presented to the Committee this evening is a revised and updated version including a summary of work that the team have been carrying out since then with delegated authority given to Ms Green and the Executive Director for Children and Young people due to the libraries monitoring CCTV element within the review.

Ms Green provided an update which included the direction of travel the team advises to move to, especially there is now a full complement of staff in the team and advised that a complete review has been carried out on all sites (or otherwise known as CCTV assets) and also identified future CCTV sites that the team would like to proceed towards over the course of the next two years. A complete wireless transmission review of the current network has also taken place and the plan is to bring the CCTV room in borough, in the Colindale building with all cameras being reviewed via the CCTV room going forward. Currently it resides in Enfield. Ms Green concluded that a full business case will come back in the autumn time to the Committee for approval.

Cllr Grocock asked that when the programme is finalised could reviewing the CCTV be factored into the work so as not to leave the technology to become outdated at the speed that it has to date. Ms Green confirmed that continuous review would form part of the ongoing work to ensure the cameras are fit for purpose as well as the location of cameras and would regularly be reviewed going forward to futureproof the technology.  She continued that there is now a dedicated team in house to monitor contracts to ensure more robust and dedicated reviewing. The member process has also been agreed whereby additional funding outside of the contract for CCTV goes through the Area Committees in the case that additional cameras are needed.

Cllr Conway commented in relation to Area Committees that the administration has now put Community Safety as one of the key priorities for how funding is allocated. Cllr Grocock acknowledged this positive decision agreed by both parties.

Cllr L Gurung asked in relation to a maintenance system for the cameras and equipment. Ms Green confirmed that the team have just worked through a procurement exercise to split the maintenance of the cameras to a new provider who has been proactive already in looking at the current cameras that are in place, the number of the cameras not working changes all the time and we want to get this as low as possible, it is a constant work in progress and the current priority is to make all cameras operational for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cllr Narenthira asked how many cameras there currently are within the borough and what the likely number will be when the borough is up to full capacity. Ms Green confirmed that currently there are 127 however we are proposing to have approximately 400 borough wide as we move through the project.

Cllr Radford asked in relation to any statistics to identify how useable the imagery from the cameras is for prosecution purposes. Ms Green commented that this has been a priority of the team and they have been looking at this to ensure the new system will be much better-quality cameras and stressed the importance of having a good maintenance contractor to assist with this. The current assets are quite old however the updated system will be newer and clearer. Maggie Higton Brown also commented that by bringing the system in house, it would enable the team to work closer and quicker with the Police on any incidents that do take place and more efficient for information to passed over to support them.

Cllr K Gurung asked about better lighting in the parks. Ms Green informed that this piece of work falls within the remit of the Environment & Climate Change Committee and a report on lighting in the borough has been taken to this Committee. Cllr Conway also informed that this is being looked at through the new town centre proposals work that is taking place.

Cllr Narenthira asked about the cost of the cameras individually and asked for clarity on the process of members requesting additional CCTV in the borough and where this needs to be taken for a decision.  Ms Green commented that is would be difficult to give an accurate cost for the camera ad there are many things that it is dependent on, for example the type of camera, if there is already a connection to it and does it already connect to the network being a few of these examples. A technical feasibility study needs to be carried out each time a CCTV camera is proposed.

In relation to the process of requesting additional CCTV, this has now changed and officers who are in expert in this area now do the study of the area in question to see if CCTV would be beneficial solution and if additional funding is needed via the Area Committee. Ms Green confirmed that members would need to put in a request with the Community Safety Team to work on a proposed solution and then via the Area Committee if needed.

Cllr Grocock asked about the date the full business case will be received. Ms Green advised that currently there is no fixed date however this all depends on the additional feasibility study which is currently ongoing.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1.     Approved the revised CCTV Outline Business Case (OBC) and noted the findings and progress of the strategic review of Barnet’s Community Safety requirements

2.     Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Assurance and the Executive Director of Children & Young People in consultation with the Committee Chair to approve further revisions to the Outline Business Case prior to the Full Business Case