In Hampshire, Rushmoor Borough Council and Hart District Council have a new and merged CCTV control room.
The control room, based at Rushmoor council’s offices in Farnborough, took three months to build and is now monitoring 120 cameras across Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet, Yateley, Blackwater, Hook, Hartley Wintney and Odiham.
The control room was officially unveiled in May with Councillor Peter Moyle, Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council and Councillor Ken Crookes, Leader of Hart District Council cutting the ribbon.
Both councils had been operating separate control rooms in their offices in Farnborough and Fleet. A decision to provide a shared CCTV service was made last year at a time when the monitoring and recording equipment needed replacing; ; Meyertech CCTV products were installed. The consultant was Roger Hardiman of RJH Technical Consultancy. The two councils pointed to a more efficient and cost-effective service. The cost of building the new control room was £275,000, which came under budget. This has led to a saving of £170,000 when compared with building two separate CCTV control rooms. Further savings of £50,000 will be made each year due to reduced running costs.
The service operates 365 days and helps prevent and detect crime and disorder, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour. It also helps increase feelings of safety and is an important resource in helping police and other agencies carry out their work.
Councillor Ken Muschamp, Cabinet member for safety and regulation at Rushmoor Borough Council said: “I am proud to be hosting the service on behalf of both councils. We now have a state-of-the-art control room that is equipped to manage requests from the police and other partners to help us ensure that north Hampshire remains a low crime area.”
Councillor John Kennett, community safety portfolio holder at Hart District Council, said: “This joint service works at every level and is an excellent example of how two councils can work together to provide enhanced service and better value for residents. The decision to locate a single control room in Farnborough was made carefully, bearing in mind that the local police headquarters are in Aldershot. Operations will be overseen by a small panel drawn from both councils and we are confident that a partnership with Rushmoor will result in a first class service right across the area.”
Phil Stoneman, from Rushmoor Borough Council, who led the project said: “I am delighted that we have been able to work together to provide such a valuable service and save money on behalf of our residents. We are pleased with the outcome and the way in which Baydale Control Systems have carried out the work to a very high standard. I’m also impressed with how well the team, made up of CCTV operators from both Councils, adapted to the new technology which includes digital mapping – essential for pin-pointing locations quickly when incidents occur.”
Meanwhile Hart District Council has seen this year a decrease with the amount of fly tipping across the district. However, Council chiefs are continuing to crackdown following a recent spate of large incidents across the District.
John Elson, Head of Technical and Environmental Services at Hart District Council, said: “Fly tipping is an unsightly criminal activity. With the current activity happening across the District we are proactively taking action by the way of targeting hot spot areas with signage and covert cameras. I urge members of the public who witness the act of fly tipping to contact the Council and report the offence as soon as possible.”
Fly tipping is often associated with dumping waste from vehicles. The person controlling the use of the vehicle can be prosecuted, and the registered keeper could be prosecuted if they had have knowingly caused fly tipping and refuse to identify who the actual controller of the vehicle was. Fly tipping is a serious criminal offence which carries a fine of up to £50,000 if convicted in a magistrates court.
In an effort to reduce the number of fly tipping incidences, Hart provides a collection for large items known as bulky household collections.
