Future options for the CCTV provision within Lowestoft will be discussed next month.
A major community meeting regarding CCTV in Lowestoft is being held at the Riverside offices in the town on February 16.
Organised by Lowestoft Town Council, the meeting is planned as part of a comprehensive review of the CCTV provision.
It comes after the mayor of Lowestoft, Ian Graham, and deputy mayor, Peter Knight, recently held 'high-level discussions' surrounding the CCTV contract, as meetings took place with Waveney MP Peter Aldous, Waveney Norse – who currently operate the CCTV system – and Waveney District Council.
With Waveney's CCTV network first installed in 1998, a major upgrade of the aging facilities in 2011 saw more than £190,000 spent on building and equipping a new control room at the Waveney Norse depot in Rotterdam Road, Lowestoft. State-of-the-art digital equipment was unveiled as part of a complete overhaul of Waveney's security cameras system, with the CCTV coverage hailed by police chiefs.
Further developments saw three new CCTV cameras being installed on the seafront in 2016 following vandalism to beach huts and equipment along Lowestoft's lower promenade.
But with concerns having been raised recently over the quality of the CCTV equipment, and the locations of the CCTV network of cameras, the town council has now organised a public meeting.
As Lowestoft Town Council reviews the assets and services that have been transferred to them by Waveney District Council, Shona Bendix, Lowestoft Town Council clerk, said: 'Part of the process is establishing public opinion of these assets and services. As a town council we had no say in what was transferred but we are determined to ensure appropriate improvements and efficiencies.
'Given the enormity of the CCTV contract, we will be holding a special public meeting.'
She added: 'We are reliant on Waveney Norse and Waveney District Council for the information we need to establish how suitable the service and equipment is for current and future needs. Among the questions that need to be considered is if we were to design a service from scratch now, would it be at the standard of the service as transferred?'
The meeting will be held from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
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