Big Brother’s £1.4m price tag defended

OLDHAM Council spent £1.4 million over three years on CCTV cameras, according to campaigners who say the public is being ripped off.

Research by Big Brother Watch — a group fighting intrusions on privacy and protecting liberties — lists Oldham 81st out of 255 local authorities for the amount spent on installing and operating cameras from 2007 to 2010.

But Councillor Rod Blyth, cabinet member for community safety and public protection, defended the use of such technology as a cost-effective and effective tool in the fight against crime.

Across the country it found more than £314 million was spent, ranging from Birmingham in top spot with more than £10 million to Selby at the foot of the table on £300,000. Stockport spent half as much (£605,000) as Oldham.

The group has hit out at the national amount spent, comparing it with hiring 15,202 nurses on an average salary of £20,710, 14,584 teachers costing £21,588 each or 13,536 police constables on £23,259.

Big Brother Watch director Alex Deane said: “This is a shocking figure.

“Public money is being wasted on snooping surveillance that does next to nothing to prevent or solve crime. We are being watched more than ever before, and we’re being ripped off into the bargain.

“British taxpayers will be scandalised to see their money being thrown away like this in the current economic climate.”

He added that the UK spends more per head on CCTV coverage than 38 countries do on defence and total spending amounts to more than the entire annual budgets of eight independent nations.

In January, the group said the number of cameras controlled by local councils had almost tripled nationally in the past 10 years, from 21,000 to 60,000.

There were 78 CCTV cameras in Oldham, which worked out at 0.4 per 1,000 people for the 217,273-strong population.

Councillor Blyth said of the £1.4 million: “This figure also includes costs associated with the running of our 24-hour control centre and other services such as the council’s out-of-hours service and other tasks carried out by First Response.

“CCTV has led to a dramatic reduction in crime across the borough and has been brought about through effective partnership working and the pooling of resources from the council, police and others.

“CCTV cameras are cost-effective and have a significant part to play in reducing crime and the fear of crime.”