Concerns newly installed CCTV in Castle Park will not capture trouble

Castle Park in Whitehaven has been plagued by hooligans who have smashed bottles, started fires and scrawled graffiti on the bandstand.

Copeland Council has now installed CCTV in the park, after receiving funding from The Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund, via Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall.

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But Chris Hayes, mayor of Whitehaven, who lives by Castle Park and has witnessed the anti-social behaviour, said the cameras would have been better placed covering the inside of the bandstand, where much of the trouble takes place.

He said: "I just don't get it. They spent all that money getting that bandstand painted and they put the camera on the back.

"Last night there must have been about 20 kids in there.

"What a waste of money. It's embarrassing.

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"Come the end of this year when Copeland have gone, who's looking after the park? All this money that's been spent and in my mind wasted, could have been spent on other things.

"It's a joke." 

Graham Roberts, who represents the Harras ward on Whitehaven Town Council, said: "I think it's a bit of a waste of money. It's a ridiculous place to put it, where they can't be watched.

"If they were going to do anything destructive like damage the metal work at the front, you can't see it at the back. I think the mayor has a point."

Councillor Andy Pratt, Copeland Council’s portfolio holder for parks and open spaces, said: “The placement of the cameras was decided through communicating with the police. They had concerns about people entering the park and hiding in the wooded areas. 

"One camera covers the rear entrance to the park, one covers anti-social behaviour behind the band stand, and the third covers the playground, memorial and bandstand.”