CCTV camera system soon to be live

We are days away from the long-anticipated CCTV system upgrade in Nailsea going live. The 12 new digital cameras, situated at various prominent locations across the town, will allow North Somerset Council to monitor the town at a closer depth and help to continue to keep the town safe.

The upgrade is a district-wide initiative organised by North Somerset Council. Old analogue CCTV cameras in Weston-Super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead will also be replaced with the state-of-the-art digital ones. Each town council has paid to replace their own cameras – a total of 72 across North Somerset – with Nailsea Town Council paying for the 12 situated in the town.

The cameras will allow for better and clearer images, some with 360° coverage. The high definition wireless cameras will also have automatic vehicle registration identification linked to police databases to help with prosecutions. One camera located in Millennium Park will include a microphone and illuminator that the police will be able to switch on if suspicious activity is spotted.

Nailsea Town Councillor Rod Lees said:

“Nailsea is already a safe place to live and work. The new digital CCTV system will give clearer imagery and allow North Somerset Council to monitor and relay these images to the police, who will be able to watch them live needed. This is a massive improvement for Nailsea as it will cover more areas in the town.”

As part of the upgrade, funding for a separate mobile camera has been agreed to allow a remote camera to be deployed to hotspots across Portishead, Clevedon and Nailsea to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour. The upgrade for the system has been a high priority for Nailsea Town Council for a number of years, with former councilor James Steel playing a strong part in securing this.

Nailsea BEAT Sergeant, Mark Raby said:

“The improved cameras will help us keep people safe and identify offenders in the town. The AVS will also allow us to track and identify vehicles used in anti-social activity and crime.”

The final technicalities are currently being worked on by broadband provider Virgin to increase the band width capacity and ensure signals being relayed. We’ll let you know as soon as they are operational.