Anti-littering CCTV in Louth believed to be acting as deterrent

Louth County Council believes the anti-littering CCTV cameras it has installed at locations in the county may be acting as a deterrent against fly-tipping but as a result has not yet detected any littering.

Cllr Antóin Watters raised the matter at the Louth County Council September meeting, asking about the CCTV rollout and saying that it may have deterred some littering, as well as asking if any detections have been made.

Cllr Watters also asked about a time frame for its installation in other areas, mentioning Edentubber where he added was "quite a bad black spot", as well as asking how long it would be at the Racecourse Road location and what other areas it is planned for.

Cllr Maeve Yore also made an enquiry on the matter, asking if public representatives would be informed where other locations would be.

Replying to the councillors, Acting Director of Services, Operations and Environment Delivery, David Hanratty said that "in a way it is successful in that it is acting as a deterrent", but added that as a result they are getting "zero detections".

Mr Hanratty went on to say that in terms of rolling it out to other locations, they are taking on board requests from local representatives and where litter wardens are seeing problems. He added that a data protection impact assessment had to be done for each location, and that it had to be approved by the committee and the Chief Executive for deployment.

Mr Hanratty further added that everyone would be informed of the locations, as it is an overt operation and not a covert one.