Campaigners celebrate success in fight to save market town’s CCTV

The system of 11 cameras covering Richmond, which is monitored by the Ministry of Defence at Catterick, was earmarked to be shut down by Richmondshire District Council which is battling a £777,000 shortfall in this financial year on a £7.5m budget amid the Government’s austerity drive

But after protests from residents and business leaders, it was granted a temporary reprieve while cash was found to fund the monitoring of the cameras.

Now campaigners have persuaded the MoD to waive the £16,000 a year it charges for monitoring the system, and members of the council’s strategy board have agreed to recommend to full council that the cameras remain a local authority-run service – but mostly paid for by the business community.

Richmondshire District Council leader Coun John Blackie said: “Shutting off these cameras was not an easy decision to take, but with savings needed councillors had no choice.

“But with the MoD’s decision to waive its income and local businesses stepping in, we have a win-win situation.

“We can keep the cameras rolling, businesses have what they want – and the district council still makes substantial savings, despite incurring unplanned costings in administration of the scheme which it is happy to take on board.”

In order to continue raising the cash needed to fund the cameras, the group of business leaders, called the Richmond Guardians, has issued leaflets to every home and business in the town urging them to give a donation.

Philip Wicks, chairman of the Richmond Business and Tourism Association, said: “We are delighted that the MoD has agreed to waive the monitoring charge until January 2014 and that the district council’s strategy board has recommended to continue managing the contracts.

“There has been a good initial response to the Richmond Guardians appeal and there is still some way to go, but we are now confident that we can reach the £15,000 target with the help of Richmond Town Council.

“We look forward to working in partnership with both councils and the MoD to secure the long term future of the CCTV beyond January 2014.”

The issue will be discussed at the full meeting of the council on July 24.

Until that time the cameras will continue to be operated by Richmondshire District Council.