Last year, our Essex Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst announced that Castle Point Borough Council were to receive a £1.04 million grant to upgrade CCTV around Castle Point in partnership with Southend Borough Council, who will monitor them 24/7 from their own CCTV control centre. 

Castle Point Borough Council has already received some of this grant and will hopefully take a step closer to getting these CCTV cameras installed when their Cabinet agree the legal necessities at a meeting tonight.

I have been lobbying for an upgrade of the Borough's CCTV coverage for a long time and I am pleased that many local antisocial behaviour hotspots and public spaces, including Roscommon Way, Waterside Farm, Woodside Park and Tarpots will be receiving new cameras.

I understand that the full details of the locations chosen by Castle Point Borough Council to benefit from the CCTV upgrade will be released in due course. I also understand that the funding will also allow the Council to use Southend Council's mobile CCTV cameras to deter antisocial behaviour in seasonal hotspots and during specific events.

This is very good news for local residents worried about crime and antisocial behaviour and I hope these upgrades will be installed as soon as possible.