This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Successful CCTV projects announced
20/03/2006
Nine towns and cities across Scotlandare to receive a share of £780,000 in Executive funding to expand mobile CCTV in shopping centres and other public areas.
Aberdeen, Dundee, Musselburgh, Tranent, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Invergordon and Paisley were today named as the winning bidders for funding, after the Executive invited councils taking part in the in the Safe Cities and Towns Initiative to submit applications in November last year.
The successful areas were announced by Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry as he visited shops in Hillington, Glasgow, where he saw a mobile CCTV van in operation.
Hugh Henry said:
"We want to help the public live safer daily lives. Ensuring they feel safe and confident when visiting the shops is an important part of that. That's why we invited those areas involved in the Safe Cities and Safe Towns Initiatives - a scheme specifically designed to tackle business crime - to submit bids for mobile CCTV funding.
"CCTV is a valuable tool in both preventing and detecting crimes. However, we wanted to encourage and support towns and cities across Scotlandto take a more flexible approach to its use. Mobile CCTV equipment can be easily moved from one area to another to target particular problems and hotspots.
"This initiative will help support retailers - the lifeblood of many communities - in the fight against crime and antisocial behaviour, as well as helping reduce fear of crime in our towns and cities."
In November last year, Hugh Henry announced that the Executive would be making up to £1 million available for CCTV initiatives in the financial year 2006-07, in line with the Partnership for a Better Scotland Commitment to expand CCTV, in shopping and other areas, supporting businesses and others to reduce crime.
Local authorities taking part in the 18 SafeCities andSafe Townsinitiatives, launched in the Cities in 2003 and extended to towns in 2005 with the aim of tackling business crime and making communities safer, were invited to submit bids for a share of the funding by December 30, 2005.
Areas currently covered by that initiative include - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Inverness, Perth, Falkirk, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, East Kilbride, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Paisley, Musselburgh, Tranent and Invergordon
Traditional, fixed camera initiatives were excluded from this round of funding in favour of modern, flexible approaches such as rapid deployment cameras, which are wireless and can be moved as required, and mobile CCTV vans.
The following successful applications were chosen and allocated the below amounts.
Glasgow - £190,000 for a mobile van and eight voice linked cameras and deployable poles
Paisley- £30,000 for a mobile van
East Lothian(Musselburgh and Tranent) - £104, 936 for six flexible response cameras
Edinburgh- £89,400 for converting six youth action team vehicles
Aberdeen- £49,439 for four portable cameras
Highland( Invernessand Invergordon) - £150,000 - mobile van
Dundee- £165,746 for four rapid deployment cameras
Tot al: £779, 521
Of the funds remaining from the £1m, £40,000 is being used for evaluation. The Executive is considering how best to use the remaining £180,000.
All successful applicants will be expected to provide regular progress reports and the Executive retains the right to recover awards or withhold payments in the event of unsatisfactory performance.
5. Previous Executive funding, for CCTV projects, has included:
£10.3m through the (now defunct) CCTV Challenge Competition and Make Our Communities Safer Competitions, between 1996/97 and 2001/02, which provided 2,102 cameras to 161 projects. These were largely fixed cameras. However, Dundee, Fifeand Perth & Kinross successfully applied for mobile cameras under the Challenge Funding Competition.
In late 2001 and early 2002, Central Scotland Police, Lothian and Borders Police, Fife Constabulary and Glasgow City Council were given funding for mobile CCTV from the £1m available to provide security improvements to ethnic minority places of worship.
In 2002-03, £2.5 million was provided to upgrade, centralise and modernise existing CCTV systems.
Other funding streams which have also been used for CCTV, include Quality of Life. Between 2002 and 2006 we expect £26m of Quality of Life money to have been allocated for neighbourhood safety, including lighting and CCTV.
Some areas have also used part of their ASB allocation to fund mobile CCTV to be used in individual cases and identified hotspots