Contact your Parish Council
MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
CABINET
10 DECEMBER 2008
REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Report prepared by Brian Morgan
1. CCTV – OPERATIONS APPRAISAL
1.1 Issue for Decision
1.1.1 To consider the outcome of the appraisals for the location of the CCTV control room resulting from the Best Value Review of CCTV.
1.2 Recommendation of Assistant Director of Development and Community Services
1.2.1 That Cabinet agree:-
(a) That the CCTV control room should remain at its current location, and
(i) that the recording and monitoring equipment should be replaced where appropriate and that refurbishment takes place to improve:-
− ventilation
− fire suppression
− facilities for staff
− health and safety
from the capital programme, and
(ii) that a back up facility be provided at an appropriate location funded by £600,000 from the capital programme.
(b) That a camera replacement programme be instituted to the value of £100K.
1.3 Reasons for Recommendation
1.3.1 On 14 November 2007 Cabinet received a report regarding an operations appraisal following Best Value Review of CCTV. A copy of the decision notice is attached at Appendix A.
1.3.2 This report is not intended to be a rerun of the best value review but to consider the costs arising from the actions taken from Cabinet’s decision on 14 November 2007.
1.3.3 The Best Value Study reported that the cost of rebuilding and extending the CCTV Control Room in its current location was £602,403. This figure included replacing the equipment in the Control Room. At the time of the Best Value Review, £750,000 was in the capital programme. It was recommended that the difference between the cost of £602,403 and the budget of £750,000, was used for camera replacement. Subsequently a further £50,000 was added to the capital programme for camera replacement. There is at present £820,000 in the capital programme for the creation of a new centre, replacement equipment and camera replacement.
1.3.4 The External Scrutiny Committee considered the Best Value Study on the 14th November 2007 and requested that ‘the current health and safety issues regarding the CCTV room be assessed and instigated’. A copy of the decision is attached at Appendix B. It was for this reason that a further feasibility study was carried out. This study which was reported in March 2008, projected that the cost of rebuilding an extended control room was £683,340 which, when combined with the replacement equipment cost, gives a total of £1,033,340. This figure is beyond the total amount available in the capital programme, and does not take into account the cost of business continuity if, for whatever reason, the Centre was inoperable:
The
estimated costs are:-
£
Building works 683,340
Monitoring and recording equipment 350,000
Business
continuity __50,000
1,083,340
1.3.5 As the costs of extending the control room in its current location were in excess of the budget sum, a number of alternative locations have been explored with different organizations, but none of these have resulted in the positive identification of an alternative site.
1.3.6 As part of the work on seeking alternative sites, a suitable site has been identified on the 1st floor of the new office building. Meetings have taken place with the Police Architectural Liaison Officer, who confirms that the area is suitable. The Procurement Section has appointed a Surveyor to provide a feasibility study of the suitability of this space. The additional protection measures have been costed. The feasibility study shows that the costs would be:-
£
Construction 620,000
Monitoring and recording equipment 350,000
Business Continuity 30,000
Signal transmission 100,000
1,100,000
1.3.7 This is marginally above the cost of extending the existing facility. To this figure needs to be added the cost of renting 110 sq.m. of floorspace.
1.3.8 The consideration of moving to Maidstone House would allow the opportunity of bringing together in one place, CCTV, community safety and a partnership office as a Public Safety Unit. This would support the Safer Maidstone Partnership but financial support from other agencies should be sought.
Further Options
1.3.9 The current site has been used since the original installation in 1995. There is not sufficient money available in the capital programme to either:-
· extend and refurbish the existing control room, or
· move the control room to Maidstone House.
1.3.10 There is, in addition, no other alternative site available.
1.3.11 There are two options available, which are to:-
· either increase the money available to carry out the works, or
· retain the control room unextended, in its current location.
1.3.12 In relation to increasing the money available, it would be possible to commute parts of the revenue budget. At present, in the budget 2008 / 2009 is:-
£
Equipment purchase 10,830
Maintenance 34,530
Professional Services (Staffing) 15,080
60,440
1.3.13 If this were commuted over a 5 year period, and another year were added to the capital programme (£50K), it would provide £1,172 million. This approach is not without risk. Firstly the outcome of the staffing tender is unknown and secondly, only £20K per year would be available for the replacement and maintenance of equipment.
1.3.14 The option that remains is to:-
· replace the equipment in the present control room, without the extension proposed in the Best Value Study,
· carry out some refurbishment,
· improve ventilation and fire suppression equipment so as to improve the health and safety of staff.
1.3.15 If the Control Room were to remain in its current location, the costs would be contained within the current budget:-
£
Equipment 350,000
Building Works, to include:
Improved ventilation
Fire suppression
New work stations 102,740
Professional fees 25,000
477,740
Business continuity 55,000
532,740
The building works identified are to improve the health and safety of staff.
1.3.16 This approach would enable the continued collection of evidence grade images, and would improve the working conditions and safety of staff. In addition, it would enable the £100K identified for camera replacement, to be used for that purpose.
1.3.17 During the construction phase there may be some disruption to the facility, but Officers are exploring whether the facility could be operated from a temporary location. In addition for reasons of business continuity, it is necessary to provide a secondary monitoring and recording facility in the event of system failure or staff evacuation. The cost of the back-up facility is £50K. This issue was not considered as part of the Best Value Study.
Consultant
Support
1.3.18 This is
a specialist area where technology is evolving and it is considered essential
that a suitably qualified and experienced consultant is appointed to advise on
technical matters, particularly the detail of the equipment. This will support
the Council through the whole process and can include writing specifications,
general advice and tender evaluation. For the sake of clarity, the Council has
no other Consultants working on this issue.
1.4 Alternative Action and why not Recommended
1.4.1 Alternative locations, both in the ownership of the Council and other bodies, have been examined and costed. There are two potential locations but the reality is that the Council cannot afford to provide an extended or new CCTV control room at these locations. The only financially realistic option that is available is to remain in the existing control room, carry out some refurbishment and replace the monitoring equipment. Whilst not ideal, it enables the provision of a highly regarded service at a cost that is budgeted for. It also enables a programme of camera replacement to take place.
1.5 Impact on Corporate Objectives
1.5.1 CCTV and crime issues are related to the achievement of the vision ‘quality living’ priority theme and key objective 10.
1.6 Risk Management
1.6.1 The
upgrading of the existing site may lead to the cessation of monitoring whilst
the works are undertaken for a period of 28 days. In addition, the current
site has no business continuity provision in the event of system failure.
Within the report there is a consideration for business continuity by providing
a limited monitoring facility at an alternative position.
1.6.2 The age
of the current equipment is such that the maintenance and equipment budgets are
increasingly coming under pressure and it is therefore considered appropriate
at this time to seek this level of investment in the core operation.
1.6.3 Whilst there is not a fundamental health and safety issue in relation to the existing location, there is the need to:-
· improve ventilation,
· improve fire suppression
· facilities for staff
· general health and safety
1.6.4 These measures can be incorporated as part of the overall work to improve the health and safety of staff in the CCFTV Centre.
1.7 Other Implications
1.7.1
|
1. Financial
|
X
|
|
2. Staffing
|
|
|
3. Legal
|
X
|
|
4. Social Inclusion
|
X
|
|
5. Environmental/Sustainable Development
|
|
|
6. Community Safety
|
X |
|
7. Human Rights Act
|
X |
|
8. Procurement
|
X |
|
9. Asset Management
|
|
1.7.2 The
estimated costs are set out in the report.
1.7.3 In addition
to these, it is recommended that £20,000 is set aside to procure a suitable
consultant to give specialist advice to the council on specifications and with
potential selection processes.
1.7.4 Staffing
– the procurement process has begun to test the market on this particular part
of the services. The issue of Health and Safety is considered in paras 1.3.15
and 1.6.3 of the report.
1.7.5 Legal –
all of the procurement process will be undertaken in conjunction with advice
from the Legal Section.
1.7.6 Environmental/Sustainable
development – the location of the control room, as with any property provision
will need to be undertaken, taking into account sustainability principals.
1.7.7 Social
Inclusion – the Council seeks to ensure that all our communities have access to
the services. Whilst CCTV does assist in the prevention and detection of
incidents such as anti-social behavior, other teams in the Council seek to
provide diversionary activities with partner organisations. The retention of
the facility in its current location does limit access for disabled persons to
it.
1.7.8 Community Safety – the CCTV facility is the most significant area of work in support of the Council’s obligation under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act.
1.7.9 From April 2007 to March 2008, there was 2135 interventions/ sanctions undertaken as a direct result of the support of CCTV.
1.7.10 Human Rights – the regulation of CCTV is undertaken within the context of human rights consideration.
|
NO REPORT WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT THIS BOX BEING COMPLETED
Is this a Key Decision? Yes No
If yes, when did it appear in the Forward Plan? _______________________
X
Reason for Urgency
[State why the decision is urgent and cannot wait until the next issue of the forward plan.]
|