CCTVNEWS
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PICKLES HITS OUT AT
COUNCILS & CCTV PARKING
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has criticised
councils that use CCTV to catch parking offences.
Pickles has identified councils’ use
of cameras for on-street parking
enforcement as one of the reasons that
town centre shopping continues to
decrease.
The use of so-called “camera cars”
-- mobile parking enforcement vehicles
with surveillance cameras attached -- has
been on the increase since legislation
changes in 2004 introduced under the
Labour Government.
In a statement, Pickles said:
“Excessive parking charges and unfair
parking fines push up the cost of living,
and undermine local high streets and
shopping parades. We want to rein in
over-zealous parking enforcement, so it
focuses on supporting high streets and
motorists, not raising money. Parking
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spy cars are just one example of this
and a step too far. Public confidence
is strengthened in CCTV if it is used
to tackle crime, not to raise money for
council coffers.”
Since 1997, the Department for
Communities and Local Government
reports that revenue from local authority
parking has risen from £608 million.
Pickles said that the law could be
changed “before Easter” to ban the use
of fixed cameras and “camera cars” for
parking offences. These cameras have
been used to issue 10 million fines, worth
£301m, in the past five years according to
Conservative Party figures.
Civil liberties group Big Brother
Watch has backed the Communities
Secretary’s position, saying that
they “wholeheartedly support” the
Government plan and that the biggest
issue is that “the public are never, ever
told that this is part of the deal when
they accept greater CCTV surveillance.”
The group continues to ask if the public
would be as willing to accept more
surveillance cameras if they had the full
facts about what they are being used
for.
This is a position in line with the
Government’s CCTV Code of Practice
which was published and enforced earlier
this year; a document which attempts to
enshrine the principle of “surveillance by
consent.”
The Government’s suggestion is that
only visible traffic wardens will be
allowed to film vehicles.
THE SEP/OCT 2013 ISSUE
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