Power surges blamed for damaging city CCTV cameras

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

Power surges were to blame for knocking out some city centre CCTV cameras, senior councillors have confirmed.

It follows questions from Newport City Council’s opposition leader Cllr Matthew Evans around the effectiveness of camera coverage.

Complaints

Cllr Evans said he had received “a number of complaints from city centre traders about the CCTV system and allegations about the cameras either being switched off, facing the wrong way or not capturing anti-social behaviour”.

“I understand when there have been some shoplifting or anti-social behaviour cases and [when] the police have contacted the control centre, there hasn’t been any camera footage because the camera was switched off or it wasn’t visible,” he added.

In a written question to the cabinet members with responsibilities for communities, he asked: “Can you confirm, if this is true, what you intend to do about it? If these allegations are unfounded, why have there been several recent complaints?”

In response, Cllrs Jason Hughes and Mark Spencer said: “We have recently experienced some issues due to a number of power surges on the wider grid causing damage. The main issue was identified and repaired.

“However, a small number of cameras remain offline pending a new cable connection, which will prevent such issues in the future.”

The cabinet members added: “We have a mixture of fixed and remotely controllable cameras across the city that allow us to redirect our coverage to assist in such situations.”