15 January 2021
Liberal Democrat Councillors have joined Conservatives on the TMBC Overview and Scrutiny Committee by voting to end live-monitored CCTV in our Borough - despite Green Councillor Mark Hood voting to retain the scheme as it is.
Kent Police and the Council’s Community Safety Unit made it clear that the current service was most effective as opposed to the passive system that we will now be left with.
There was a distinct split between Councillors from the town and rural wards, who were happy to see the system downgraded. Green Councillor April Clark responded by saying: “I hope this important issue doesn’t become about towns versus villages. I hope this is about us all coming together to protect residents and prevent anti-social behaviour and criminal activity where people come together in the greatest numbers and, while there may be less cameras in rural areas and some estates, we can recognise that people in these areas will travel into town centres to work, study and socialise, and therefore benefit there.”
Councillors voted to end live-monitoring of CCTV in order to save £100,000. We know that the same Council sold the Teen and Twenty Club in River Lawn Road for £685,000 less than its market value. That difference in revenue would have paid for almost seven more years of live-monitored CCTV. The continual mismanagement of the Council's property assets is having far-reaching consequences on key services.
Now, the entire Borough will lose out, Kent Police will be robbed of a fantastic resource that allows them to track criminal activity through our community in real time and relay that information to officers on the ground. The root of the problem is the inability of TMBC to listen, maximise the potential of assets and protect existing open spaces.
Your Green Councillors, April Clark and Mark Hood, as well as our branch secretary Paul Stepto, support measures to ensure safety in our town centres.
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