Report by Place Manager (Town Centres) (attached).

The Committee considered a report by the Place Manager (Town Centres), (circulated previously) regarding CCTV Annual update.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive highlighted the following:

·         Appendix A of the report, pages 33-48 of the agenda, was the North Devon Council Public Space CCTV Annual Report for 2023.

·         There were 37 operational cameras across North Devon with one deployable camera.

·         Green Lanes shopping centre had an additional 34 cameras that were monitored by SIA licensed operators.

·         There were 17 cameras situated at Ilfracombe Harbour which were monitored by the Harbour Master.

·         There were 8 cameras in South Molton that were not live monitored but could be reviewed on request.

·         Funding from the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in 2021 enabled the North Devon CCTV system to be upgraded and become a hub for the whole of North Devon.  Other towns and parishes within North Devon could connect to and be monitored.

·         Ilfracombe currently had two cameras and South Molton had eight through the hub.

·         The number of incidents and observations (as shown on page 37 of the report) for the service in 2023 were as follows:

Ø  CCTV staff were involved in 1766 incidents/observations (1827 the previous year)

Ø  CCTV staff were involved in 96 arrests by Devon and Cornwall Police (96 the previous year)

Ø  CCTV staff were involved in 438 missing/vulnerable person “events” (316 the previous year)

Ø  547 incidents were identified by the operators themselves, through their general monitoring

Ø  CCTV carried out 575 reviews of footage of which 184 incidents were produced for Police enquiries as evidence.

·         Future plans (as shown on page 38 of the report) to include further areas into the scheme as follows:

Ø  Barnstaple Town Centre cameras at Boutport Street junction with Queen Street and Castle green

Ø  A mobile camera

Ø  Anchorwood Business park – approved at previous Strategy and Resources committee

Ø  Seven Brethren Business park – included as part of the wider carpark development on this site.

In response to a question about where the funding for the future plans for cameras would come from, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive replied that this would be covered from either S106 funds (Anchorwood Bank), additional infrastructure funding, Police and Crime Commissioner funding and the Seven Brethren car park project budget.

In response to a question about increasing the number of mobile cameras the Council owned, the CCTV officer replied that there was very strict criteria around the use of mobile cameras and that what the Council had was sufficient for our needs.

The Chief Executive advised the Committee that regular partnership meetings were held with Ilfracombe and any additional needs for cameras in Ilfracombe would be taken to those meetings.

In response to a question about best use of camera number 35 monitoring footfall, the Lead Member for Regeneration advised that the statistics collated from this monitoring helped inform bids for funding such as the Future High Street Fund.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the contents of the annual report be noted; and

(b)  That officers ensure that the issue of CCTV is raised as part of the Ilfracombe Task Team meetings.