Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies from Members unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies for non attendance at the meeting were received from Councillor Hutchison and Burgess.

All Members are required to disclose at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter, any disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest in any item(s) being considered at this meeting.

There were none.

To sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 29 November 2023.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on the 29 November 2023 be signed as a true and correct record.

(NOTE: The Board is required to receive a deputation(s) on a matter which is before the meeting of the Board provided that notice of the intended deputation and its object shall have been received by the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on Friday 19 January 2024.  The total time for deputations in favour and against a proposal shall not exceed 10 minutes).

There were none.

(NOTE: The Board is required to allow a total of 15 minutes for questions from Members of the public on matters within the terms of reference of the Board provided that notice of such Question(s) shall have been submitted to the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on Friday 19 January 2024).

There were none.

This report, requested by Members under Standing Order 3.7 of the Constitution, outlines the role and cost of the previous CCTV Public Open Space Monitoring Service, for noting.

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Community Safety presented under Standing Order 3.7 of the Constitution outlining the role and cost of the previous CCTV Public Open Space Monitoring Service for noting.

Some Members felt that the complete withdrawal of the monitoring was detrimental and unacceptable.

The Board was advised that there had been a reduction in CCTV Monitoring in July 2021 and that the contract had ended in October 2022 and that the Police at the time had advised the benefit of live monitoring was immeasurable.

A Member advised the Board that they believed that CCTV Monitoring would reduce Anti-Social Behaviour.

Previously a report had been submitted to the CCTV Partnership on the live monitoring, looking at hot spots, begging, criminal activity, missing persons.

A Member advised and proposed an amendment that the Monitoring of CCTV should be reinstated to its previous level of 84 hours per week.

They advised that the infrastructure was still in place, and that the reinstatement of some live monitoring would allow for contact by the Police to better respond to incidents and to allow proactive responses, rather than retroactive.

A Member queried the financial considerations that had been undertaken to propose the amendment, as cost would have increased from the previous years and it was advised that the Community Skips funding would be utilised as it was believed fly-tipping had not reduced. Members advised this had been shown on UNIFORM recording system, it was also advised that Members were more proactive in reporting incidents.

A Member advised that consideration should have been given to not reducing monitoring coverage at all, if it was dealt that its removal was so detrimental.

Members advised that the report previously considered was confidential, and had not disclosed which hours were covered by the live monitoring and that the publication of this report had led to there now being an awareness that live monitoring coverage was not undertaken at all.

A Member advised that CCTV Monitoring offered reassurance and all the data showed that it was more effective and public support for it was high.

The full coverage had been removed when the partnership had been ended by the withdrawal of Fareham Borough Council, and had reduced from full coverage to 84 hours. This coverage had been provided at peak times and offered reassurance. It was questioned why the safety, and security of the residents was no longer important.

It was recognised that the provision was not mandatory but it was felt that other non-statutory functions such as community skips should be removed and CCTV Monitoring reinstated.

A Members advised that much of the criminal activity, specifically which targeted at women took place in areas not covered by CCTV such as alleyways and cycle tracks.

The importance of home cameras was acknowledged in supporting the Police in solving crimes, this included private CCTV and things such as Ring doorbells.

Some Members felt the decision to end the monitoring should have been a board decision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

There were none.