Saturday, April 18th, 2009...12:13 pm
Text of our door-to-door letter, and other questions that need asking
I thought it would be useful to have the letter up here for discussion, so that folks from Forest Fields can see what our main points are. There are some other reasons for opposing the CCTV scheme which didn’t make it as far as the letter due to space considerations and/or lack of information at the time we went to print – more on those below. For now, here is the text of the letter we are delivering this weekend:
You may have heard that the council are planning to install a CCTV system in Forest Fields. The proposals have gone through several revisions, and currently they intend to install three masts. The suggested locations are on the corners of Leslie Road and Berridge Road, Burford Road and Berridge Road, and Gladstone Street/Alberta Terrace and Foxhall Road.
The council will be posting their own information and consultation sheet through our doors soon. We are writing to you separately – as a group of Forest Fields residents concerned about these proposals – to stimulate informed debate on the subject, and to ask you to consider whether CCTV is really the best use of funds for our neighbourhood.
In an Evening Post article on Monday April 13th, it was reported that people in the area are hopeful that the CCTV cameras will cut down on litter, anti social behaviour and speeding cars, as well as being used to tackle more serious problems such as robberies.
It would be great to see improvements around Forest Fields – after all, who wouldn’t want to live in a safer, cleaner neighbourhood? However, there is a huge amount of evidence to show that CCTV has little to no effect on crime in residential areas. More often than not, it is just an exercise in throwing expensive technology at societal problems, to be seen to be “doing something”.
Technology doesn’t do anything to address the underlying social issues – the only thing that can fix those is a better community. Thus, if there is money available for Forest Fields, wouldn’t it be better used to strengthen the local community, rather than to remotely video our problems?
Here are a few points to consider:
- In 2007, London Assembly members obtained information under the Freedom of Information Act that showed CCTV has little effect on solving crime. The statistics show that more CCTV does not lead to a better clear-up rate. London has over 10,000 state-run cameras.
- A Home Office study in 2002 found that improved street lighting is up to seven times more effective at reducing trouble in problem areas than CCTV.
- Hoping that CCTV will tackle things like litter and speeding cars is pretty optimistic! The police are not going to trawl through hours of video to catch people dropping crisp packets and bottles, or driving too fast.
- Displacement of problems to other areas has been a consistent criticism of CCTV schemes, and the same will happen in Forest Fields. Problems will not go away, but will just move onto adjacent streets, out of range of the cameras.
- We are not convinced that the council has made the case for why CCTV is needed here, or produced any evidence to demonstrate how CCTV will address the issues they claim it will.
A presentation about the CCTV cameras will be held from 6.30pm until 8pm on April 23rd at Djanogly City Academy on Gregory Boulevard. We hope you will attend, and voice your opinions.
For more information, further reading and discussion, please see www.forestfields.org.uk, or email us at no_cctv@forestfields.org.uk
Additional things to think about (these weren’t on our leaflet):
- Despite asking the Area 4 Neighbourhood Management Team about this on several occasions, we have been unable to find out the budget for the CCTV scheme. Neither of the leaflets they have put through our doors have any information at all about how much it is going to cost to install, maintain and monitor the CCTV cameras. Especially during a time of recession, it would be nice to know that councils are spending our taxes wisely, for the benefit of the community. Instead, we’ve been asked to vote on whether or not we want CCTV in Forest Fields, without having enough information made available for people to be able to make an informed decision. The cost of the scheme should have been on the leaflets that came through our doors.
- Who are the Area 4 Neighbourhood Management Team democratically accountable to? They aren’t an elected body, so there’s very little we can do if we aren’t happy with them.
- How will the votes on CCTV be counted, and what proportion will be required for the scheme to go ahead or be turned down? A simple majority? Two-thirds? We have no idea, because nobody has been told.
- Who is counting the votes, and who are they accountable to?
- CCTV won’t stop speeding cars. As with regular speed cameras, some drivers may slow down near the camera, but will speed up again when out of it’s range. Better traffic calming measures would be far more effective, and have no ongoing running costs attached.
- Forest Fields crime levels and statistics from Nottinghamshire Police – speak for themselves! The crime level in this area is apparently “average” compared to other areas of Nottingham, and down by 19.2% from the same three month period last year.
- In the Evening Post article about the CCTV proposals, PC Mark Tindall is quoted as saying “I personally think this is one of the best things to happen in Forest Fields.”
For a vibrant area with quite a lot of small-but-interesting things going on all the time within the community – many of them incredibly positive for the local area – doesn’t it seems rather odd to ignore all that, and say that the arrival of CCTV is one of the “best” things to happen around here? - Many shopkeepers in the area seem to be largely in favour of the scheme – including those quoted in the article. Are the interests of shopkeepers the same as the interests of residents? Why were no residents (who aren’t also shopkeepers) asked about their views?
- Does the Evening Post’s strap-line of “Forest Fields residents welcome CCTV move” – ahead of the residents consultation – not seem a little premature, or just a little bit of a sweeping generalisation? (If it’s already known that we welcome it, then why bother to ask us to vote on it?)
All these questions and more need to be asked at the meeting, or in writing, to:
Freepost RSBB-TUEE-XKXJArea 4 Neighbourhood Management Team
The Mary Potter Centre
Gregory Boulevard
NOTTINGHAM
NG7 5HY
In the meantime, if you’re after more information on reasons you might not want to welcome CCTV to our neighbourhood, the No CCTV website has plenty of in-depth material and facts to chew over.
3 Comments
April 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am
tash’s report on the meeting:
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2009/04/428298.html
May 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
In response to a number of comments made on this website, we would like to clarify some things about the Neighbourhood Management Team. The Area 4 Neighbourhood Management Team is part of Nottingham City Council. We are employees of the City Council and therefore have not been elected.
Neighbourhood Management is a national initiative and is about neighbourhoods managing what happens in their neighbourhood. For more information, see http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/886045.pdf
We work to ensure that people have their say about what the council and police do – what the issues are and where resources etc should be focused. We work to respond to the needs, issues and concerns of local people. This will sometimes lead to people not liking what we are doing – if we are consulting on something they don’t want.
We are organising the consultation regarding the CCTV masts. At the moment, people are returning their votes to us and we are collating the responses. The voting is done on one house – one vote. Ultimately, the decision lies with the leader of the council.
We are trying to promote who we are and what we do, and the Neighbourhood Action Officer in your area has contacted a lot of community groups in the area to promote what we do. If you want to find out more, please contact us.
We are also organising a youth event at Djanogly on 14th May 4-8pm where people can find out about what is happening for young people in the area. There will also be lots of things for people to try out – climbing wall, sports sessions etc.
We hold monthly walks around the area where residents, departments from the City Council, Nottingham City Homes, the police and the councillors walk round parts of the area identifying and addressing issues in the area. For more information, please contact us.
We are also involved in a number of community events and activities trying to get people more involved and to have their say!
If you want to find out more, please contact the Neighbourhood Management Team on 8838468/9
July 26th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Over the past 4+ years the local area has deteriorated exponentially – this is the fault of lazy Policing, ridiculous political correctness and itinerant “residents” & their absentee landlords.
The wholesale degeneration of the area – which include gun crime, open drug selling, anti-social behaviour and general filth and squalor has led to the unfortunate necessity for CCTV.
The bellyaching loons who “think” they are living in some kind of cosmopolitan utopia are as much part of the problem as the criminals and scum that wander the streets day and night – their utter lack of commitment to improving the area beyond jumping on the nearest band wagon du-jour to moan about matters that they are ignorant to is causing more damage than good.
You people are NOT the representatives of this area, you are a bunch of emotionally challenged freaks and whiners — if your worried that the CCTV will be catching you smoking your blunts (bought from the local scumbag) or seeing your inbred offspring screaming like a sick banshee on the street instead of doing homework or being responsibly parented then it is obvious you should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped, because it is YOU and your ignorance that is damaging the lives of the people who live here and work for a living (and I mean PROPER work, not the stupid nonsense most of you useless, weird, benefit scamming, tree-hugging morons think is work.)
I’m accountable to my family, their protection, safety and Right to NOT LIVE IN FEAR. The sickness that grips this area is a disease that requires aggressive treatment. If you don’t see that you are part of the problem and not part of the solution.
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