Local campaigners have revealed that a new CCTV system in Cadbury Heath has helped cut local crime by a whopping 25 per cent.
Funded by South Gloucestershire Council, two new state-of-the-art cameras on School Road and Newton Road were switched on in September 2009, after campaigners called for action to tackle numerous incidences of anti-social behaviour and other more serious forms of crime, which have occurred locally over the years.
Figures obtained from the council by local campaigner, Chris Skidmore, and the area’s councillors show that overall crime levels on the Parkwall police beat, which includes Cadbury Heath, is 25 per cent lower in the 3 months Sep-Nov 09 than the same 3 months in 2008 before the cameras were installed.
The area had a history of local problems and School Road hit the headlines in 2007 when two men blew up a phone box using firework explosives. They were later jailed.
Local traders and residents, including the elderly residents of the nearby Alfred Lovell Gardens elderly people’s home, had regularly been the victims of anti-social behaviour in the School Road and Newton Road areas.
Despite only being operational for a matter of days, the new cameras, which are monitored round the clock, caught an incident of 3 teenagers scaling the roof of the Cadbury Heath Hall on School Road with one of the group recorded attempting to break a roof window.
In a joint statement, Tony Olpin and Nick Barrett, Conservative councillors for the Parkwall ward, said:
“We have been pushing strongly for action to address local residents’ concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour and were delighted when the funding was secured for these state-of-the-art cameras.
Like many residents, we are especially pleased with the hugely positive impact they seem to have had on the local crime rate in the months since their installation.
We will continue to work with residents, the council and police to make our area even safer.”
Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council
