Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director Net Zero and City Management.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED that Council approve the recruitment of 3 additional full time equivalent staff, in order to increase the capacity to proactively monitor city centre CCTV.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report to recruit three additional, full time staff members at the Council’s Control Centre, to ensure there were suitable staffing provisions in place to proactively monitor city centre CCTV, and to support improvements to public safety.

Particular reference was made to the total cost of £87,000 to the Council in this financial year, which would come from the additional unbudgeted funding received from the Government’s final settlement which also totalled £87,000. Members were reminded of the requirement for longer term spending reductions and this extra cost would form part of this going forward.

Councillor Vizard, having given notice under Standing Order No. 44, spoke on this item, thanking the Executive for the opportunity to speak. He referred to the full Council meeting on 22 February 2022, where Members heard from Mr Tony Cox, who was the father of Lorraine Cox, who had been murdered in Exeter, and had spoken passionately at the meeting on the tragic events.

Councillor Vizard passed on Mr Cox’s apologies for the evening, and stated that he had gotten to know Mr Cox over the past year, and many Members had accompanied him on the memorial walk for Lorraine Cox, to raise money for the Devon Rape Crisis and abuse services which had exceeded their £4,000 target and had raised £6,348. The walk was to raise awareness for the campaign for safer streets and to end violence towards women.

Mr Cox had called on the Council to find funding to ensure the £550,000 investment to upgrade and extend the existing CCTV coverage was supported with funding for additional CCTV staff. Mr Cox felt that a minimum of two staff needed to be on duty at any given time to ensure suitable cover and support the upgrading of the CCTV, to better protect residents.

Councillor Vizard in concluding, welcomed the recommendation in the report, thanking the Director of Finance for finding the £87,000, which was a compelling reason to spend on the service, despite current financial pressures. Councillor Vizard also expressed his thanks to the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services for the hard work that had been undertaken and with the community safety partnership and safety for women at night, and hoped the recommendation would be supported at full Council on 19 April 2022.

Councillor K. Mitchell, as an opposition leader, spoke on the item and welcomed the report and supported the recommendation. Like other Councillors, he had been moved by Mr Cox at the Council meeting in February 2022, and was pleased funding had been found. He highlighted his support and emphasised the importance of cross party support. He expressed his thanks to the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services for the hard work that had been undertaken to bring this forward.

The Portfolio Holder for City Development stated that as a local Councillor to Mr Cox, she had spent time with him, debating how to address violence against women. The need for CCTV coverage in the city was important and she supported the recommendation. However, additional CCTV, wouldn’t solve the larger issue of violence against women and that work would need to be continued at all levels.

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services highlighted that the Council didn’t have to provide CCTV services, but chose to provide it for the people of the city. The service was discretionary and the Council had been fortunate to receive the £550,000 grant to improve CCTV services. By partnering with the Safety of Women at Night (SWAN) charter, it been beneficial in providing further support, and signs would be erected for any concerned women to call the contact centre, if they felt unsafe.

She expressed her thanks to the Portfolio Holders for supporting the work, and to

Mr Cox and his family for the work they had been doing. The work undertaken highlighted the Council’s commitment to safety and more work was being undertaken to further improve safety in the city.

The Leader commented that this was a supplementary spend, which demonstrated that the City Council did listen to residents to make changes in the city and was pleased that there would be cross party support.

RECOMMENDED that Council approve the recruitment of 3 additional full time equivalent staff, in order to increase the capacity to proactively monitor city centre CCTV.