westminster council agrees controversial move to turn off entire network of cctv cameras - external cctv camera housing

A committee in central London has made a controversial decision to close the entire CCTV network. Conservative-
Westminster City Council agreed on the move at a cabinet meeting on Monday night as part of a cost-cutting effort.
This means that in order to save £ 1 million a year, 75 local government cameras will be closed in September 1.
Some of the busiest areas in central London are controlled by Westminster Council, including Soho, where there is a huge night --time economy.
Opposition leaders and police experts have previously criticized the proposals.
Earlier this month, terror and police specialist David videcat told the Standard: "It will be a huge loss for the police.
"All CCTV networks are huge resources for the police and have a huge impact on fighting corruption.
Social behaviour, crime, drug trading are very, very valuable for the police. "It's crazy -
Parliament will spend money on correcting things, vandalism, theft of local authority houses, and it will pay twice as much for itself.
"If there is a terrorist attack, we have to track the movement of the terrorists, which is risky.
But tonight, Cllr Nickie Aitken, a member of Westminster's Public Protection Cabinet, said it could no longer afford"
Statutory ", which means that this is not legally required when the main camera is used by Metropolitan Police.
She said: "Like other local governments across the country, our current view is that when our budget is under a lot of other pressure and other partners are the main beneficiaries, we cannot continue to subsidize this non-statutory service.
"We will continue the discussion and over the past week we have had a very constructive discussion with the mayor, the Metropolitan Police and the mayor's office of public security and crime.
"We want to try to find a pan-London solution that suits the capital, because criminals don't stop at the Boro border.
"CCTV cameras in London's transport, private businesses and real estate operations areas will continue to operate.