Mole Valley District Council is asking what local communities would like to see concerning the future provision of CCTV cameras in the district’s public spaces. The feedback received will help inform where the cameras are located, and how many CCTV cameras will be retained from 2024.

 Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) and Surrey Police currently provide 51 CCTV cameras in public spaces such as parks, car parks and high streets.  These are located in Ashtead, Bookham, Dorking and Leatherhead. This arrangement will soon change because Surrey Police has decided, for financial and operational reasons, to no longer monitor the CCTV network from its Control Room in Reigate.

For the past 20 years, Surrey Police has covered the costs of monitoring the CCTV network in Mole Valley and other Surrey areas, while MVDC has paid £40,000 each year for signalling and maintenance costs. However, the Police now largely rely on other forms of evidence gathered from devices such as mobile phones, dash cams and Ring doorbells, rather than CCTV and they have therefore decided to stop monitoring the CCTV network.

While Surrey Police has committed to providing a financial contribution towards the cost of maintaining the provision of CCTV in the future – should councils choose to take over this responsibility – MVDC needs to understand the value local communities place on public space CCTV, so that we can assess what we should provide as a district council.

MVDC is proposing four options in its consultation, including three for the retention of between 20 to 30 cameras and an option to withdraw provision altogether from the district.

To have your say, visit molevalley.gov.uk/cctvreview and complete the online survey before 11.59pm on Monday 20 November 2023, or complete printed copies available from the reception of MVDC’s office in Dorking, in addition to Dorking and Leatherhead Libraries. 

Councillor Keira Vyvyan-Robinson, Cabinet Member for Property and Projects, said: “We need to make important decisions about our future use of CCTV and we need your views to help inform what we do next. As a council we do not use the footage from CCTV to provide our services and, like every council, we are having to review all of our costs and scrutinise what provides value for money. Surrey Police has made a decision to move away from traditional CCTV for operational and financial reasons, and we need to consider whether, and to what extent, it is the district council’s role to continue this.

“We have figures for CCTV usage which show that over the last 12 months, in most cases the number of times a camera has been viewed is less than 10 times. Does this represent value for money for our residents, or is CCTV such a valued asset that we should continue to fund it, despite the Police withdrawing?  Your feedback will help us answer these difficult questions.”

Mole Valley District Commander Inspector James Green said: “The decision for local authorities to take over the provision and monitoring of CCTV was part of the Surrey Open Space CCTV strategy 2017-2022.

“We have provided MVDC with data to help inform their proposals and will continue to support the provision of CCTV in the district.

“Our data show that public CCTV cameras in the district are seldom used as a detecting factor in crime.

“Instead, footage from mobile phones and private CCTV is more often used – technology which has proliferated since the council’s first cameras were installed in 1995.

“We will continue to take part in discussions with the council, and other interested parties, about what the CCTV estate in the district should look like in the future.”