New CCTV control centre to be built in Newark as Newark and Sherwood District Council pull out of CCTV partnership hosted at Nottinghamshire Police Headquarter, Sherwood Lodge.

A council will take CCTV monitoring into its own hands, to improve how effective the cameras are as a tool against crime and anti-social behaviour.

Newark and Sherwood District Council currently operates 104 CCTV cameras as part of a partnership between councils in Nottinghamshire, which are hosted at Nottinghamshire Police’s headquarters, Sherwood Lodge.

Cabinet have now voted to leave this partnership after a number of concerns were raised, including about the speed at which information is shared and ageing technology.

In its place a new in-house control centre will be built in Newark at the cost of up to £682,000, with hopes that the majority will be covered by long-term town funding from government.

Currently the council pays £133,000 annually in ongoing costs to the partnership.

It was argued that the creation of this new service will enable the council to both prevent crime and react more quickly following incidents, as there would no longer be a relay of information from outside of the district and staff would have a better understanding of the area being monitored.

The current set up is also outdated and in need of upgrade, meaning as a partner the council would be asked to contribute towards improvements in areas beyond their own.

Moving to in-house monitoring would also remove the need for the current CCTV transmission mast in Newark lorry park — which transmits images to Sherwood Lodge — and would avoid the costly and complicated process of relocating the mast during proposed A46 improvement plans.

Paul Taylor, portfolio holder for public protection, said: “This is about creating a massive step change in the way we conduct our campaign against anti-social behaviour.

“This would mean that rather than things being taken away from Newark, it is starting to bring things back where they belong.

“I’m really proud of the work done by officers so that we can keep protecting the public in the way that they deserve.”

Mr Taylor gave the example of a window being smashed in Newark Town Centre which took two days for this to be noticed under the current set up — he argued that with the control centre in Newark it could have been seen at the time of the offence and dealt with quickly.

Opposition leader, Rhona Holloway questioned the expense of the scheme if the long-term town funding was not granted, but in response Mr Taylor said that it would be worthwhile as the issue remained such a priority for the council.

The new control centre would be monitored 24 hours a day, create five new staffing jobs and be located within a council owned building.

The authority would also have the potential to generate revenue by monitoring cameras for other organisations.

This latest decision comes after the council last year approved a comprehensive CCTV camera upgrade scheme to improve the quality, quantity and reliability of the network.

Council leader, Paul Peacock, said: “I am regularly frustrated by trying to get access to CCTV and the images not being great because the equipment is too old and the processes are too long.

“This to me is refreshing — the cameras will act as real deterrent.

“People’s safety is people’s priority and this technology and the way that we use it will be good intervention for ourselves and the police.”

The decision to leave the CCTV partnership means that there is now a 24 month notice period before the council can officially withdraw — this is to allow remaining partners to assess and reorganise the current setup.

In that time a business plan will be drawn up to present the argument for funding to government.