Stafford council ups its CCTV operating system spend after costs go up
Nearly £60,000 is set to be spent by a Staffordshire council on upgrading its CCTV system to help tackle crime.
Previously £48,800 was earmarked by the council for the replacement of the current operating system.
But a year later costs have gone up – and the authority’s cabinet agreed on Thursday, November 5, to increase the spend to £59,540.
The council’s CCTV cameras and infrastructure have already been upgraded over the past two years, but the current operating system and servers were installed in 2009 and are no longer fit for purpose, a cabinet report said.
It added: “The investment in new cameras now gives very much improved quality of images which has significantly improved the detection of crime. The new digitally upgraded cameras do not run to their full potential on the current 'Synectics' system.
“A capital bid was submitted in September 2019 and agreed for the CCTV operating system replacement for the sum of £48,800. Since this date the price has risen by £7,440.
“Where possible the contractor has given us discount and we are also fully utilising the demonstration equipment to keep the costs down. The capital bid which was submitted was based on an estimate price hence the reason for this request.
“As we are replacing the CCTV operating system it would be beneficial to rewire CCTV network and upgrade network switches in the server cabinets and rewire all wireless links which would complete the CCTV upgrade. The cost to do this is £3,300.”
Stafford Borough Council has been asked by Savills to monitor the 19 cameras recently installed at Riverside Shopping Centre, the cabinet report added.
The authority is also monitoring the area’s Pupil Referral Unit and is working on a contract to cover Stafford Library on behalf of the county council. If the library pilot proves successful the scheme could be extended to all libraries to help the county council reduce staffing costs – and bring in extra income for the borough council.
Council leader Patrick Farrington said: “I’m aware from other discussions that it’s a significant update in capacity and coverage and the inclusion of third parties as partners to the project makes it a common sense proposal.”
Councillor Carolyn Trowbridge said: “This is well-needed, especially in the town centre. The extra fund towards it is well-needed so I’m really pleased with this.”
Councillor Mike Smith said: “We’ve already agreed the principle of the spend and this is just an increase because of an enhancement to the system. It’s a sensible move.”
