Melksham's Free CCTV System to be Replaced?

By George Meer | Monday, January 16, 2012, 16:11

The eight-camera digital CCTV system procured for Melksham at a cost of exactly nothing by Paul Weymouth of Christmas lights fame is to be decommissioned as the Melksham Safety Partnership have got a two-camera system for the rather steeper price of £10,000.

Melksham needs CCTV, especially at the weekend when the pubs turn out

Jon Hubbard of the Melksham Lib Dems apparently thought that the system would not be compatible with the new system going up in Melksham and has undertaken to see whether the two CCTV systems can be integrated, which would make perfect sense at a time when the council is facing calls to cut costs from all angles.

Paul Weymouth claims that the system is a standard setup, with a DVR which links directly to the Net, phones, etc, has full PTZ control ( pan, tilt, zoom ), and a 1TB disk which is good for all cameras for one week at Hi res quality. He said the only thing required to make that system perfect is higher-res cameras. Basically he and his team of volunteers achieved for next to nothing what has been talked about for decades in Melksham, and for little money this could easily be properly installed in the Town Hall and brought up to perfect quality.

The system was used numerous times over Christmas by the police, and it meet every current bit of legislation. Weymouth and and the group would adopt install the uprated equipment etc for next to nothing. But if this is not taken up by the council, he will strip the current equipment out and install it for a group or charity. Further suggestions were made that the CCTV could be set up to help support Melksham PITP and the carnival, or be used by First Community Centre, who are pushing ahead with a project to build a new centre in Melksham.

The saga continues.

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Comments

Now that would be a great solution to this issue! Have messaged Paul to get in touch with you Phil, but I am sure you will be talking to him soon anyway.

By sashahes at 13:32 on 17/01/12
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I'd like to put a bid in for Paul's excellent but apparently soon to be decommissioned CCTV system to be installed in King George V Playing Fields. It ticks several boxes, in that the area is a gathering place for medium to large groups of people; is not currently covered by any CCTV and neither is it on the proposed new network; it's presumably where the new format Party in the Park music event is going to be taking place (they are now, as long demanded by the Carnival Committee, an entirely separate event, taking place at at different time of year); there's a school there and associated parking issues; and from a personal point of view as President of Beanacre Cricket Club, it's a location where there's been a considerable amount of low-level vandalism and misbehaviour which has often for the past few years caused us to call for a police patrol to pass by.

The town centre's loss could well be the wider community's gain!

By philmcm at 17:45 on 16/01/12
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