Fed up residents raise funds for CTTV camera to monitor notorious fly-tipping street

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents in Bexley are so fed up with their area being ‘trashed’ with litter that they have offered to privately fund a security camera for a street notorious for fly-tipping. 

Labour councillors for the Belvedere ward have asked the authority to consider adding more cameras to reduce crime and rubbish dumping in the area.

Labour councillor Jeremy Fosten said that locals had organised a campaign to raise funds for a CCTV camera to monitor Parkside Road. 

The councillor said: “Because it’s next to a park, it’s getting quite dangerous when people fly-tip, particularly for children because there are families living along that road so it is becoming very hazardous.”

The comments came after Bexley council documents stated that fly-tipping incidents in Wallhouse Road, Erith, had sharply decreased since a CCTV camera with automatic number plate recognition had been installed on the street in July this year.

Cllr Fosten said at a council meeting on November 6, that his ward colleague Labour councillor Esther Amaning had been told by the council that there was not enough money to install CCTV in Belvedere. 

He added that the Safer Neighbourhoods policing team for the area had asked the ward councillors to request cameras to address increases in arson and vehicle theft.

Cllr Fosten said at the meeting: “Fly-tipping was one of the most reported issues in my canvases around lower Belvedere and residents are fed up of their town being trashed.”

Conservative Councillor Teresa O’Neill OBE, Leader of Bexley council, said in response that councillors should work to improve the effectiveness of their ward panel to convene with police services. 

The council leader said at the meeting: “Our CCTV at the moment is in town centres, it’s not out in the community more widely. 

“Technology has moved on since we originally had that conversation and that contract. There is a conversation to be had about the latest technology and how you might use it going forward.”

A Bexley council spokesman said that the authority takes a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping and illegal waste deposits with potential evidence are inspected by its enforcement team.

This year 264 fines had been issued for fly-tipping in Belvedere, with most offenders living in the borough.

The spokesman said: “Our environmental services team currently removes hazardous waste and materials likely to attract vermin as promptly as possible.

“It is important to note that the land in question is not registered to any owner and is not classified as a public highway which limits the council’s capacity for intervention.”

The spokesman said residents had not been denied requests for privately-owned CCTV installations and the council encouraged any video evidence from private CCTV that residents may be willing to install as this would help enforcement efforts.

Pictured top: Cllr Fosten said fly-tipping was a frequent issue in Parkside Road (Picture: Google Street View)