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.