Purpose

On 22 December 2023 the then Partnerships
Portfolio Holder decided to accept the Safer Streets fund grant and
to enter into a public consultation in order to embed compliance
with the Council’s CCTV code of practice. Subsequently a
decision on the consultation results was combined with the final
scope of the scheme and authority to progress with consents and
contracts for the project was made by the Portfolio Holder. That
decision included delegations to enter into other contracts in
relation to the scheme.
The Portfolio Holder concurred with the appointment of Openview
Security Solutions Limited as the main contractor for the works on
12 November 2024. On 26 June 2025 you concurred with my proposed
decision to allocate £2,500 within the balance of Safer
Streets Fund grant for a new data link to Colchester and to enter
into agreement with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited in the sum
of £2,500.
The Safer Streets scheme as agreed includes for the physical and
technical works in the scheme and for remaining funding to be used
to augment resources for monitoring. The latter balance currently
stands at around £75,000.
On 21 February 2025 Cabinet agreed proposals for the transfer of
Careline functions, including CCTV monitoring to be delivered by
Colchester Amphora Trading Limited a company wholly owned by
Colchester City Council. At the time of committing to the upgrading
contract recording and monitoring of Clacton’s CCTV was
carried out at the Clacton control room by TDC staff. However,
under the new arrangement, the monitoring will be carried out by
Colchester Amphora Trading Limited’s staff in Colchester. The
new fibre link previously agreed has facilitated this. Under the
new arrangements the TDC monitoring stations will be redundant and
the link from them to the police station will cease to
function.
Colchester Amphora Trading Limited, utilising its existing
procurement arrangements, has proposed to supply and install a
suitable data link to the police station at costs of:
Clacton Police Station fibre link installation: 1,000.00
Fibre link service fee 1 year at £1,980.00 (for 21/2
years)£4,950.00
Total: £5,950.00 + VAT
This installation will be coordinated alongside their other
scheduled activities to deliver the agreed services.
Additionally the transfer of monitoring of the system to Colchester
requires the reprogramming of the new cameras acquired for the
enhancement project in order to communicate direct into the new
monitoring arrangement.
It is likely that some work to existing cameras that are not being
renewed will also be necessary. This work is still being quantified
and a contingency allowance is proposed.

Content

1.allocate the further sum of £5,950.00
within the balance of Safer Streets Fund funding for a new data
link to Colchester;
2.enter into agreement with Colchester Amphora Trading Limited in
the sum of £5,950.00 + VAT to deliver the new data link to
Clacton Police Station in order to facilitate the delivery of the
joint CCTV monitoring in line with the Safer Streets Fund
Grant;
3.Allocate the further sum of £1,440.00 within the balance of
Safer Streets Fund for the reprogramming of cameras to be carried
out by Openview Security Solutions Limited as an addition to their
contract, and;
4.Allocate a contingency of £2,000.00 within the balance of
Safer Streets Fund funding for the reprogramming or reconnection of
other cameras (not in the upgrading project) to connect to the
Colchester Amphora Trading system. This work to be carried out by
Openview Security Solutions Limited or other contractors as
circumstances dictate.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 - Not allocating additional funding
or proceeding with the links and reprogramming. Not proposed,
Remote monitoring from the Police Station would not be possible and
remote monitoring in Colchester would be impaired.
Option 2 - Allocating additional funding to facilitate proceeding
with the links and reprogramming. Proposed, Remote monitoring from
the Police Station and Colchester will be possible.