"The harsh reality is that 24/7 monitoring is expensive" – council takes decision over Shrewsbury's CCTV

Earlier this year, the council launched a public consultation on plans to scale back its CCTV monitoring service in Shrewsbury, which currently takes place as a round-the-clock operation.

Following approval at yesterday’s cabinet session, the council will now revert to a reduced system of reactive monitoring, a move which is expected to save the council around £350,000 per year.

“We must make difficult decisions to protect essential services while finding new ways to manage non-statutory functions like the CCTV service,” said Councillor Rob Macey, the authority's portfolio holder for Culture and Digital.

“The report represents the outcome of a thorough consultation with our partners, local businesses and the public on the future of CCTV monitoring in Shrewsbury and the reality is that while CCTV pays an important role in deterring crime and promoting public safety the current gold standard of 24/7 active monitoring is simply not sustainable in the face of our current financial challenges.

“[The changes] will allow us to continue operating a 24/7 CCTV service, which is an important deterrent, but with a more flexible cost effective monitoring model.”

Councillor Dean Carroll, who was the portfolio holder last time Shrewsbury’s CCTV monitoring system was reviewed in 2019, said the process of reviewing the service had been “torturous” due to the council’s financial position.

He told the meeting that discussions with CCTV partnership organisations including West Mercia Police, Shrewsbury Town Council and Shrewsbury BID had revealed other agencies were also unable to make up for the financial shortfall.

“Lets remember that Shrewsbury is the only town in Shropshire for which Shropshire Council funds and operates CCTV provision. All of the other market towns it’s either the town councils or town partnerships operate CCTV in those towns – however we recognise the county town has a greater strategic importance,” he said.

“We’re now in a position where we couldn’t kick the can down the road any further because of our own financial position and as the position of those partner organisations haven’t changed… the harsh reality is that 24/7 monitoring is expensive.

“As such, we had no option, despite the meeting after meeting after meeting that we held with partners to try and hammer a way through this we had no option. [The preferred option] enables us to retain CCTV coverage in Shrewsbury albeit as reactive rather than reactive.”