CCTV in area where firework was thrown at pram not upgraded because it was 'too expensive'

Coun Sophie Thornton has criticised security cameras at Jordanthorpe housing office which run on an old analogue system and don’t provide digital images.

She said local people were shocked by the attack on the one-year-old boy, who was taken to hospital with serious injuries after the firework was thrown on Batemoor Road.

Coun Thorntone told a full council meeting: “People in Jordanthorpe are thoroughly scared and horrified by a firework being thrown at a child in a pram. How much is the council spending on the current, very much unfit CCTV which exists in the Jordanthorpe housing office?

“After serious a local crime such as this horrible firework attack on a child, don’t you think it’s time to reconsider rather than just say it’s too expensive to replace it?”

Coun Alison Teal, Executive member for sustainable neighbourhoods, said the cameras were installed for staff safety reasons at a time when housing offices still collected cash from tenants for rent payments.

“The CCTV was installed many years ago and the quality of the footage isn’t very clear and has a very grainy appearance when viewing. The cameras themselves are mainly internal in the old customer access area of the building.

“There are a couple of external cameras but unfortunately, they show little footage of Batemoor Road as they point towards the carpark and shopping centre. The footage recorded is only available for 14 days to view and is set up to record over previous footage after this period. Any requests need to be within the 14 day period.

“An enquiry was made by the area housing team a couple of years ago to look at upgrading the system, but they decided not to go ahead as the costs quoted were around £20,000 and its very rare that the footage is requested.”

Coun Teal said Jordanthorpe library was run by volunteers as part of South Sheffield Community Initiatives and the council couldn’t comment on its CCTV.