Carmarthenshire Council pulls out of CCTV funding

Due to the Police and Crime Commissioner’s decision to stop funding CCTV in Carmarthenshire the executive board has decided it leaves them no option other than to stop funding it too.
Their decision was taken due to the Police and Crime Commissioner’s opinion that live monitoring of CCTV cameras was of little value, and his subsequent decision to withdraw funding for it, which the board said gave them no option but to stop live monitoring.
Members debated the issue as part of the revenue budget for the next three years.
Recently, the Police and Crime Commissioner announced he would no longer fund CCTV in Carmarthenshire.
He had commissioned a report which concluded that active monitoring was not effective.
The executive board decided that they would discontinue the service which would produce a saving of £100,000 per annum.
The intention is that the money would instead fund the Meals on Wheels service, in order for it to continue.
The cameras would remain in place and would stay on, but the police would have to be responsible for any future monitoring.
Executive board member for Carmarthenshire Community Safety Partnership Cllr Pam Palmer said: “The proposal that the executive board will take to full council will be to stop active monitoring of CCTV cameras. We are unable to make up the shortfall left by the withdrawal of funding by the Police Commissioner.
“The intention is that the funding from CCTV will save the Meals on Wheels service.
“The Police and Crime Commissioner himself has determined that CCTV should not be a priority, therefore we should react accordingly and invest the money in areas where it is desperately needed.”
The decision would affect a number of staff members who currently monitor CCTV.
Cllr Palmer added: “We are in dialogue with the staff affected and hope to come to a satisfactory agreement with them.”