A Clacton councillor has expressed his frustration at the repeated and continued delays in the delivery of the CCTV cameras that are intended to improve safety for people living in or visiting Clacton town centre.
Conservative led Tendring District Council (TDC) was awarded £317,695 from the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex’s Safer Streets Fund way back in December 2022. Money intended to help deliver new town centre cameras and CCTV upgrades along with an improved Control Centre and increased monitoring.
Following the May 2023 council elections a new Independent, Labour administration took over running TDC. They confirmed the system would be fully operational by early October 2023.
October 2023 came and went. When pressed on the issue in November 2023 the administration was forced to admit that they had failed to keep to their deadline. Blaming complexities such as planning permissions, highway consents and the like they confirmed that that they had been required to secure an extension to the Safer Streets funding period until March 2025.
In September 2024 it was revealed that many of the planning and highways consents that were needed had still not been obtained and power supply connections were not in place.
Now it has come to light that the time for completion has been pushed back again to late summer, early autumn 2025 with no actual date being given.
Clacton councillor Paul Honeywood, who has raised the CCTV issue on numerous occasions, has called on town hall bosses take the project seriously and make it a priority.
He said: “I have raised my concerns time and time again but there seems to have been little urgency when it comes to delivering this project.
“We were originally told the system would be fully operational in October 2023 and now the goalposts have been moved yet again. This time to late summer, early autumn 2025 which means we are now heading towards this project being two years overdue.
“It’s time the administration took this project seriously. It has the potential to assist the Police in reducing crime and will help people feel safer.” Paul said.
Photo: Paul Honeywood in TDC’s CCTV Control Centre in 2023.
