‘Remote working will reduce response times’
ANDREW Simms, manager of Boots inMaidstone and a director of TCM: “I AM very disappointed with theMaidstone Coun- cil’s decision to move CCTV to Medway.We have worked closely with the po- lice and MBC over the years and have developed an im- pressive relationship. “Priority has been given
to make sure that our town is safe for citizens and un- welcoming to those up to no good. Security guards, store managers and other business leaders have forged a great working rela- tionship with the CCTV op- erational team and we have many examples of great suc- cesses recently and in the preceding years. “Its strength is that it is a
local service that thrives on building local knowledge and local working partner- ships. “The CCTV system we
have is something we can be proud of.Working re- motely fromMedway will significantly reduce local knowledge and response times. “The safety of the public should be paramount, pro- tecting jobs by minimising shop theft is important and I believe that by moving CCTV to Medway we will see a significant reduction in our ability to achieve both.”
Contract for town CCTV is awarded to Medway
MAIDSTONE Council’s all-powerful cabinet has stood by its decision to award the CCTV monitor- ing contract toMedway Council. Manybusinesses are not happy about the prospect
of a "remote" service, especially as MaidstoneTown Centre Management's bidwas on the shortlist. The all-Tory cabinet decided by 3-2 votes to opt
for Medway. Council leader Chris Garland and the cabinet member for community services JohnWil- sonwere the two who voted against. A few days later, Independents Mike Fitzgerald
and Gordon Newton “called in” the cabinet deci- sion, claiming the “no” votes of the portfolio holder and leader had sent out a “conflicting message” to the public. But, at the ensuing scrutiny committee meeting, Cllr Garland said he and Cllr Wilson ac- cept collective responsibility within the cabinet and would support the Medway decision. “We live in a democracy and a democratic deci-
sion was made. I do not believe the reason for the call-in was relevant at all,” he added. The upshot is that the current town centre CCTV
monitoring
arrangement will end next spring. The fear is that moni-
toring Maidstone's CCTV from theMedway Towns will undermine its effec- tiveness because of the la- tency – technical delays –
of a system located 10 miles away, plus staff not being as familiar with local geography. But a few months ago, Ch Supt Matthew Nix told Maidstone Business Forum that a similar partner- ship between Medway and Swale had "worked re- ally well". He added that "once you got over the staffing is-
sues" the quality of service and public safety ele- ments had been maintained, if not actually increased. It was Maidstone Town Centre Management (TCM), a private limited company dedicated to im- proving the town's trading environment and its image, that last year launched a campaign to per- suade the borough council to put the contract out to tender. TCM succeeded - and entered the bidding battle itself alongwith 13 other firms. At the time, town centremanager Bill Moss said:
WHEN Medway Council entered into a CCTV partnership with Swale 18 months ago, Cllr Mike O’Brien, portfolio holder for community safety, said: “This agreement is a first for the county and part of Medway’s ambition for its CCTV control centre to become a regional hub. This is just the start. “We are always looking at ways of running services as efficiently as we can without affect- ing quality or performance and collaborating in this way with other local authorities is a good way of achieving that.”
IVAN White, chairman of the Mid Kent and Maidstone branch of the Federation of Small Businesses: “MY opinion, along with all the stakeholders involved with CCTV, is huge disappointment that the contract has been awarded to Medway. “When I heard just aweek be-
fore, that the full cabinet was taking the decision, I sent a two-
A DEBATE is hotting up aboutwhether – and which – streetlights should be switched off to save money. The suggestion emerged in a report to county councillors but no decisions have been taken yet. At least one Maidstone councillor thinks there is merit in turning off some lights at night – but not before 1am. The most radical proposal in the docu-
ment is for up to 5,000 streetlights to be removed from Kent’s roadsides and for another 70,000 to be switched off in the early hours. KCC could trim its annual £5.1m en-
ergy bill by as much as 15%, or about £765,000. Cllr Malcolm Robertson said the report presented ideas for members to “kick around”. He added: “Some may say, ‘it will lead to rising crime, I don’t want anything to do with it’. “Some villages have streetlights, some
‘Years to regain lost knowledge’
page letter on behalf of small businesses and everyone that works, lives and visits our town, to all cabinet members as Iwas not convinced they appre- ciated that the success of our CCTV system is down to full in- teraction of all people involved.
Night-long street lighting under spotlight
don’t; in some places, residents are op- posed to having any. “I think there will be quite an interest-
ing debate. Members will have all sorts of views.” Cllr Robertson said turning off all – or
every other – streetlight after 1am on res- idential estates might be an option. He felt “relaxed” about that idea, though he said it might be alright in Allington, where he lives, but not neces- sarily in, say, Shepway or Parkwood. “So long as it’s applied sensibly, I think
there is room to save money. But initially it would involve capital investment to install clocks in the lamp- posts. Previous photoelectric systems that switched on and off as it became dark and lighter became unreliable, he explained. Kent has a total of 118,500 streetlights. In Essex, 91,000 are switched off after midnight
More security needed for supermarket cash machine A CASHmachine is to be installed next door to the shop that was ram-raided in Egre- mont Road, Madginford, Bearsted. Permission was granted for a new 24-hour ATMcash machine to be placed in a se-
cure laminate panel within the existing shopfront of the Somerfield supermarket. A cash machine was stolen from Martin’s in a burglary in September last year. In the decision notice, Maidstone Council advised the applicant “to contact the Kent
Police Crime Reduction & Architectural Liaison Officer with regard to exploring the provision of additional security measures (CCTV, anti-ram bollards) at the premises”.
34 East
"Ifwe move to the final stage of biddingwewill be proposing to run the service from the town centre, hopefully with the current staff." In the end,TCMwas
one of three shortlisted bids to enter into a partnership arrange- ment with Maidstone Council for 24-hour x 7-day cover. A council officer's
report recommended Medway on both cost and quality.
“Key people are the operators
and if they do not go with the system then all those years of knowledge will be lost and it will take years to regain it. By which time the whole confi- dence in the system is lost. “I sincerely hope our fears are unfounded and that it does per- form well. But we are all very doubtful. Once it has moved, that's it.”
Romans (l-r) Elouise Connelly, Alicia Taiwo, HarryWatkinson, Bethanie Colwell and William Lakin
Rome really was built in a day! THE saying rules it out, but not these young- sters...
Children at East Borough Primary School proved that Rome could actually be built in a day.
These five, appropriately dressed Year 4 pupils are standing next to the coliseum, one of several important buildings in the model they created one Friday before Christ- mas.
Last term the youngsters studied the Romans
and their way of life. Their teacher Ruth Lawrence said: “They have learned about the countries that were part of the Empire and studied the towns and cities that sprang up all over Britain as a result of the invasion.”
To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330
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