Cheshire East may scrap CCTV service 

Options for how Cheshire East Council’s CCTV service could even include scrapping the service altogether.

Options are being discussed ahead of a planned public consultation on the proposals. Of course we all recognise that Cheshire East’s ‘public consultations’ are asking council-tax payers for their views only to promptly ignore them.

One of the first CCTV schemes was funded by The Macclesfield Partnership, which succeeded in securing £40,000 from local businesses and residents to fund its installation in the town.

Cheshire East’s CCTV service dealt with more than 20,000 incidents during the 17 months between April 2023 and October 2024. 

Demand for the service has increased significantly in the past five years, acting as an extension to other services, including emergency out of hours contact, highways, housing and regulatory services. It also supports Cheshire police, as well as town and parish councils as a ‘paid-for’ service.

The council is carrying out a review of how the CCTV service could be run in the future, with the aim of it being able to generate more income and reduce its operating costs.

Maybe Cheshire East should turn to the Cheshire Police & Crime Commissioner, who’s multi-million budget costs every Band D council tax payer nearly £300 a year.

Councillor Mick Warren, chair of the environment and communities committee, said: “The value of CCTV is well-recognised, and the council’s CCTV service continues to be in high demand from both internal and external partners to the council.

“The commitment to deliver this service – which is a discretionary and not statutory service – does however need to be balanced against the resources available to the council, which continues to operate in a very challenging financial climate.

“Significant work has already been done and remains ongoing to reduce costs and generate additional income from the CCTV service, so that it can remain sustainable, and we are now proposing to get feedback from the public and partners on four options for how the service could operate in the future.

“To be clear, no final decisions have been made, and subject to committee approval, a four-week public consultation is expected to launch next month.”

The options include making changes to staff shift patterns based on when demand is greatest.

Other options include a minor restructure of the service, reducing the amount of ‘live’ surveillance – relying on recorded footage instead – and stopping the service completely. 

Following the public consultation, final proposals will be developed and taken back to the environment and communities committee for a decision, with the aim that any changes would go live at the start of the financial year 2025/2026.

View the full report to the environment and communities committee.