£250,000 to upgrade CCTV in bid to crack down on fly-tipping, cannabis grows and other crimes across Rotherham

The borough’s CCTV system will be “replaced with up-to-date and leading technology”, according to a report which presented to the meeting of RMBC’s improving places select commission on April 12.

“CCTV has proven to be very useful, successfully contributing to both police and council investigations. Indeed, CCTV images have been key to successful fly-tipping prosecutions, including two custodial sentences being handed down by the court,” adds the report.

“In many cases, the deployment of the units has a positive preventative effect and reduces the problems in an area.”

RMBC has allocated capital funding of £250,000 for the 2022/23 financial year to add more CCTV cameras to the fixed system and improve transmission lines to allow for digital images.

Home Office funding has also provided a further 60 cameras through various rounds of safer streets funding.

This includes eight new re-deployable cameras that had remote access for police and council officers in Eastwood following reports of cannabis cultivations at a cost of £25,152.

To make Clifton Park safer, £15,200 was allocated to purchase 15 cameras, and £24,500 funded 29 fixed cameras and one ANPR camera in Victoria Park.

To tackle fly tipping, 14 deployable CCTV units are spread across the borough which are operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Sam Barstow, RMBC’s head of service for community safety, resilience and emergency planning told the meeting: “In terms of re deployable cameras we’ve got around 100, and that number continues to grow.

“The majority of those are overt ones, so they’re the ones that you’ll see hanging from the lamp columns, but we also have some covert units which we use primarily to try and tackle fly-tipping hotspots.

“The council allocated £350,000 in 2018/19, that was to upgrade primarily the fixed system.

“A contractor has now been secured to deliver on that £350,000 worth of investment.

Mr Barstow added that the council will link the re deployable cameras into the mainframe system, meaning that council officers can monitor the cameras live.

An update will be brought to the commission in 12 months, to review the effectiveness of the cameras.