Birmingham councilor claims Erdington issues are ‘undervalued’ amid CCTV row

A councilor has claimed that problems in Erdington are being “less valued” than those in other parts of the town, amid a row over a pilot for CCTV in certain tower blocks. Birmingham City Council (BCC) previously said it was committed to exploring how CCTV could be reintroduced in the council’s high-rise and low-rise blocks and boroughs.

It therefore recently applied for permission to implement a 12-month CCTV pilot, which could then provide evidence to support a possible wider rollout across the city. A council report said a number of “hotspots”, where a particular block or estate is experiencing significant crime and anti-social behavior (ASB), have been identified to trial the potential use of the new cameras.

The council previously decided to decommission all CCTV back in 2014. While the BCC said it wanted residents to feel safer in their homes, there were questions about why certain tower blocks were not included in the pilot.

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Speaking at a council meeting this month, Erdington councilor Robert Alden said a number of blocks in his ward were facing serious problems, including ASB, but had not been elected. He previously accused the council of “disgraceful behaviour” towards the pilot.

He said at the recent meeting: “What is the cabinet member’s message to the people of Erdington as to why she has not considered the problems they have suffered, even though they are more numerous than other areas of the town.” the problems in Erdington were “less valued” than the problems faced by other residents elsewhere in Birmingham.

“You will know it is a pilot programme,” replied Cllr Jayne Francis, cabinet member for housing. “We use the available data sets to make some decisions about the design and implementation of that program.

“We will be keeping a close eye on what the findings are and will report back to the chamber as soon as possible.” Pressed on Cllr Alden’s concerns, she continued: “There will be a lot of interest in this as citizens enjoy the security they believe CCTV cameras provide.

“I will certainly remove the issue and see how the decision was made. There may be other softer information or information that we used to make these decisions.”

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their homes”

Guy Chaundy, deputy director of Housing Strategy and Enabling, previously said the evidence used to select tower blocks for the pilot was “very data-driven”. He said this included crime data, what tenants say and data from the council’s internal systems around ASB reports.

“I think there is a need to ensure that there is solid and accurate data,” he continued during a recent cabinet meeting. “There will be other blocks that have problems – well, most of our blocks have some degree of anti-social behavior problems.

“This is a pilot and we need, over the course of the 12 months, to start looking at our longer-term strategies around CCTV rollout.” Cllr Nicky Brennan, cabinet member for community safety, added: “Everyone in the town deserves to feel safe in their homes.

“I will be talking to the community safety team, as well as our local police teams, about what kind of strategies we can do city-wide to contribute to this and help residents feel safe in their homes.” . The city council’s cabinet last month approved the deployment of CCTV during a 12-month pilot in certain hot spots.

Why the council previously decommissioned CCTV

The council’s decision to previously decommission all CCTV in 2014 was based on financial pressures at the time, according to a report. He said: “This decision was partly informed by the potential increase in service charges required to fund the CCTV upgrade, at a time when the move to Universal Credit meant many tenants were struggling to budget their incomes to cover expenses. .

“At the time of the decommissioning decision in 2014, the estimated costs to upgrade the system were £13 million (£18 million at 2023 prices).” The decision was then made to switch from CCTV to a system of “enhanced remote night security and secure entry systems” on all high-rise blocks.

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