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Minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet |
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held on Friday 6 August 2021at 10.30 am
in the First Floor Meeting Space, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, OX14 4SB
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Open to the public, including the press |
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Present in the meeting room: |
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Cabinet members: Councillors Debby Hallett (Vice-Chair - in the chair), Helen Pighills, Judy Roberts and Catherine Webber |
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Officers: Steve Culliford and Mark Stone
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Remote attendance: Cabinet members: Councillors Andy Crawford and Bethia Thomas Officers: Harry Barrington-Mountford, Karen Brown, Pat Connell, Diane Foster, Liz Hayden, Simon Hewings, Jeremy Lloyd, and Suzanne Malcolm |
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Non-Cabinet members: Councillors David Grant and Jenny Hannaby |
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Number of members of the public: Nil |
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Ca.19 Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Neil Fawcett and Emily Smith (Chair).
The Vice-Chair, Councillor Debby Hallett, took the chair for this meeting.
Ca.20 Declarations of interest
None
Ca.21 Urgent business and chair's announcements
None
Ca.22 Public participation
Councillor Jenny Hannaby made a statement in support of the proposals to upgrade the CCTV services in Abingdon and Wantage.
Ca.23 Recommendations and updates from other committees
Cabinet noted a summary update from meetings of other committees held since Cabinet’s meeting on 29 May 2021.
Councillor David Grant updated Cabinet on the work being undertaken by the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee. Officers updated Cabinet on the recent meetings of the Joint Staff Committee, the Scrutiny Committee, the General Licensing Committee, and the Joint Audit and Governance Committee. Cabinet noted that on this occasion, there were no recommendations for it to consider.
Ca.24 CCTV in Abingdon and Wantage
Cabinet considered the head of housing and environment’s report. This sought approval to replace old analogue CCTV cameras in Abingdon and Wantage with new digital cameras and to replace cabling to enable digital data transmission.
The report set out the options open to Cabinet:
1. To replace the analogue CCTV cameras with digital cameras in Abingdon and Wantage, together with cabling upgrades to allow digital data transmission.
2. To not replace the cameras and cease to provide a CCTV public space town centre scheme in both Abingdon and Wantage when the current equipment failed.
3. To not upgrade to digital cabling.
Cabinet rejected option 2, as not replacing the CCTV cameras would present a significant operational and reputational risk to the council. In addition, this would hinder long term discussions with Thames Valley Police regarding its county hub project.
Cabinet also rejected option 3, as to not upgrade the cabling to digital would lead to on-going faults with camera telemetry. This would impact on the operators’ ability to respond to and monitor incidents as effectively as possible, and would also not realise the benefits of having digital cameras and enhanced picture quality.
Cabinet concluded that there was a need to replace the analogue CCTV cameras in Abingdon and Wantage as the current equipment was reaching its end of life and there was a risk that if it was not replaced, the CCTV service might not be provided. Approval to spend the capital budget on the purchase and installation of modern digital cameras and the upgrading of the cabling would help the council to continue providing a professional, reliable and effective CCTV service to help prevent and detect crime and keep local communities safe.
Cabinet noted that work was progressing with Thames Valley Police on an Oxfordshire-wide CCTV hub. Cabinet hoped that this would provide opportunities for other parts of the Vale to be supplied with CCTV coverage, rather than concentrating the service solely on the major towns.
RESOLVED: to
(a) approve the spending of the capital budget allocated to maintain Vale CCTV equipment, so that all analogue cameras in Abingdon and Wantage can be replaced with digital ones and the cabling can be upgraded to enable digital data transmission; and
(b) authorise the head of housing and environment, in consultation with the Cabinet member for healthy communities, to sign off the procurement of the replacement CCTV cameras to help maintain service continuity.