FRODSHAM’S new CCTV system is “fantastic” according to veteran town councillor Lord Frank Pennington.
“It will make a massive difference to people going out and about in the town centre – particularly at night. It will give them the confidence to go out again,” he said.
But Cllr Pennington says he is now going to campaign for more cameras, covering Eddisbury Square and the Ship Street area.
He said: “The £5,000 Frodsham Town Council has agreed to spend on maintaining the cameras is the best money they have spent for a long time.”
Cllr Pennington has been to Chester to see the control room where the Frodsham cameras will be monitored – along with the existing CCTV network covering Chester, Northwich, Ellesmere Port and Neston
“It was fantastic, “ he said. “I was made very welcome and was able to see just how the cameras work and how they are monitored. It is clear they are a great help to the police.”
“I would like thank Cheshire West and Chester for providing us with CCTV.”
The new cameras provide coverage of Main Street and High Street and part of Church Street and they were installed by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CwAC) following a long campaign by
Frodsham borough councillors Andrew Dawson and Lyn Riley, local businesses and a petition signed by Frodsham people.
But in fact the battle to get CCTV went back even further.
The former Vale Royal Council – which was absorbed within CWaC in 2009 – turned down a system for Frodsham on cost grounds
Cllr Dawson said: “I’m delighted, that at long last CCTV, at least in some form, has arrived in Frodsham. Lynn and I have been working on this since 2007! It shouldn’t have taken 13 years nor the combined efforts of local politicians and businesses to get this over the line! I do wish Lynn and I had been listened to long ago – and more importantly that the CCTV covered more of the town.
“We’re also troubled, that unlike in other communities Frodsham’s CCTV won’t be used, at least for the moment, to monitor traffic conditions. We see that as an obvious opportunity that has been lost at least for the moment. However we are delighted we finally have a system.”
