Tipperary council approves community CCTV schemes policy but funding remains a concern
The policy was approved at the latest monthly meeting of Tipperary County Council
Tipperary County Council approved a policy for the funding, establishment and operation of community CCTV schemes in the county at its latest monthly meeting though concerns were voiced over the financial burden the local authority faces to operate and maintain them.
Councillors unanimously approved the draft Tipperary CCTV Policy, the absence of which has contributed to the delay in getting community CCTV schemes off the ground in several towns in the county.
The policy details the procedures within the local authority for proposing and approving a community CCTV scheme.
It also outlines the capital, operating and maintenance funding model for these schemes and the internal operational structures in the council including the setting up of a CCTV Oversight Board, the appointment of a CCTV co-ordinator, CCTV officers within each Municipal District and a Data Protection Officer.
In relation to funding, the policy stipulates that capital funding to purchase and install CCTV schemes should come from the County Development Contribution Scheme’s Community Fund.
It outlines that only a maximum grant of €45,000 is available to assist with the capital costs of installing a CCTV system.
The policy outlined that an operational and maintenance costs budget should come from the five municipal districts’ General Municipal Allocation. This is a discretionary fund made available to municipal district members generally distributed as grants to community groups and events and for special projects.
But while the long awaited policy was welcomed by elected members, several councillors voiced reservations about the future cost implications for the council and the drain that CCTV schemes will have on the council’s General Municipal Allocation (GMA).
Fine Gael Cllr Marie Murphy pointed to an example given in the report of a cost estimate of €255,000 given to replace the 13 existing CCTV cameras in Carrick-on-Suir and install an extra 13 cameras in the town.
She asked for a breakdown of the costs for this and expressed concern that funding for the operational costs of CCTV schemes will come out of municipal districts’ GMA, which countywide has fallen from €500,000 to €350,000 per year.
The Clogheen councillor pointed out that in the Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District you could be talking about an investment of the guts of €1m on CCTV cameras in the three towns. “It's just massive costs.”
She urged the council to compare CCTV scheme costs with surrounding local authorities to see what facilities they have in place, who are they working with and was there better value to get elsewhere to ensure that CCTV schemes in their towns are cost effective.
Clonmel Cllr Pat English of the Workers & Unemployment Action Group said he had serious concerns about the impact the CCTV funding requirements will have on the districts’ GMA funds.
Major money will have to be taken from the GMA to fund CCTV schemes.
Carrick-on-Suir Sinn Féin Cllr David Dunne said the CCTV system currently in Carrick-on-Suir was not fit for purpose. It was not good enough to be used in criminal or search and rescue situations.
He argued that the council needed to financially support the community CCTV schemes otherwise they were not going to get off the ground. But he wondered was there an alternative funding pot to the GMA that the council could use.
Cllr Noel Coonan, who chairs Tipperary Joint Policing Committee, welcomed the policy as the council now at least had a basis to move forward in progressing community CCTV schemes because there was frustration and anger in communities over the delay in getting them up and running.
However, he criticised the waste in money over proposed CCTV schemes to date with a number of applications having to be redone and money spent on consultants reports.
He believed the costs of CCTV schemes can be “pruned and trimmed” and brought to an acceptable level they could “digest” and urged the council to use local companies and their knowledge where possible.
When introducing the draft policy for approval to the elected council,Director of Services Brian Beck described it as a “robust framework” for the long term financing and maintenance of CCTV in the county.
In response to the concerns voiced by councillors, he explained the process of proposing and approving a community CCTV scheme starts at Municipal District level and it’s up to the elected members to decide where the money comes from.
He acknowledged that finding a “sustainable model” of funding the CCTV systems was the “core problem” the council faced.
In relation to the cost quote for replacing and expanding the Carrick-on-Suir CCTV system, he pointed out that it was not out of kilter for the costs in other towns. The council was only going to get s €40,000 grant for the Carrick scheme.
He stressed that this quote was just an estimate and the project was not formally out to tender.
The capital cost of a CCTV system depended on the number of cameras installed and whether it was an icloud or traditional CCTV system.
They had wanted to see what it cost to install 26 cameras in Carrick but it came down in the end to what they could afford. He acknowledged councillors concerns about the impact CCTV operation and maintenance costs will have on districts’ GMA funds.
Mr Beck pointed out that if a district decides to put a CCTV system in a town then apart from a €5,000 grant it will be financially responsible for its maintenance for the first four years.
District councillors will have to decide where that money is going to come from. This was a yearly cost and the lifespan of these schemes was 10 to a maximum of 15 years before they had to be replaced.