UNCERTAINTY hangs over the future of police financial support for Inverclyde’s ‘ageing’ public CCTV system, which is regarded as crucial in helping to prevent crime.

Inverclyde Council will borrow £321,000 to replace the 49 cameras, but it is not clear who will pay for monitoring and maintaining them.

Police Scotland currently provide an annual grant of £30,000 towards the running cost, estimated this financial year to be around £240,000.

Now the cash-strapped council is asking Police Scotland to come up with £200,000 from April 1 next year, or ‘at the very least make a substantial contribution’.

But the police don’t know if they can actually provide any money at all.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams has admitted some councils get much more than others to pay for CCTV.

He explained: “Approximately 15 years ago, Strathclyde Police made the decision to allocate £600,000 to support local council CCTV.

“The allocation was calculated by population size, with a caveat that no local authority would receive less than £30,000.

“As there has been no interim review of this allocation formula, Inverclyde Council, therefore, receives £30,000.”

Mr Williams continued: “There is some significant disparity across the country in relation to funding for CCTV.

“Edinburgh City Council receives no funding, whereas Aberdeen is fully funded by Police Scotland at over £400,000 per year.”

He said several councils had raised this inconsistent funding with Police Scotland, the Scottish Government and council umbrella body COSLA.

Now a working group will be established including staff from the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and COSLA to look at the issue.

Mr Williams added: “The funding for CCTV contracts is currently under negotiation, and I am not in a position to confirm what contribution, if any, Police Scotland will provide to local authorities for the next financial year.”

The network of 49 cameras throughout Inverclyde, but concentrated in town centres.

It now needs to be replaced due to equipment condition and increasing fibre network charges.

But a report by council director Wilma Bain said: “There is no commitment of new, current or future funding for CCTV provision in Inverclyde from Police Scotland.”

A council spokesman said today: “While there is no commitment to increase funding, the positive development is the review, through COSLA, which we would hope would recognise the disparity across the country in levels of funding for public space CCTV, and be an opportunity to increase financial support for this valuable community safety resource.

“The loan to replace the cameras will be funded from savings from the increasing fibre network charges, as the council is proposing to install a largely wireless CCTV network.”

The spokesman added: “If we were given support, it would mean the council would borrow less and could reduce our ongoing revenue costs.
“The council has budgeted assuming only the £30,000 grant from Police Scotland.”