Council plans to invest £845,000 in improving city centre CCTV

Birmingham City Council plans to expand and improve CCTV around the city centre CCTV network have been unveiled ahead of next week’s Cabinet meeting.

The report outlining the planned investment of £845,000 for 24 new CCTV cameras and to upgrade 30 existing cameras which will help plug some spaces in the network is to be discussed on 14 December.

This will also improve the quality and reliability of CCTV network, which will help improve the safety of residents, visitors and workers in the city centre area.

The improvements set out in the report, will include enhanced coverage of designated walking routes, particularly around transport hubs and stations

Cabinet previously approved £745,000 capital allocation to be invested in these works on 9 November 2021.

Since securing this funding, officers have worked with city partners to further boost the CCTV coverage, as a result of the recent incidents in the city centre which have highlighted the need for further investment in the network.

Four of the new cameras will be in the Southside area – following recent attacks on visitors and members of the LGBT+ community – which will be funded by £100,000 from service revenue repairs budget.

CCTV is one measure which can help improve public safety and in the wake of recent incidents, a 10-point action plan has been devised with partners which commits to improving safety in specific areas of the city centre.

As well as improving the city centre’s CCTV network, this plan will also look at potential for increased street lighting, pedestrianisation, traffic calming as well as a more visible police presence.

Cllr John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, said: “Everyone who lives, visits or works in Birmingham has the right to feel safe wherever they go in our city, any time of day or night, but recent incidents have shown more needs to be done to achieve this with our city partners.

“We are investing £845,000 into new cameras and upgrading some that are over 25 years old to ensure they are reliable and provide top-quality images that can be used to track and arrest perpetrators of crimes, such as the violent attacks we’ve seen in parts of the city centre in past months.

“This is just one measure we are putting place, and we continue to work with partners on delivering our 10-point plan in tackling violence and hate crime – which has no place in our city.”