Cumbria County Council operates 'hundreds' of CCTV cameras

The data, obtained through a freedom of information request from Ironmongery Direct, shows that across the the county 391 cameras were controlled by Cumbria County Council.

This comes after data that was obtained in September, through a separate freedom of information request, had uncovered that Cumbria County Council had one network of the controversial Chinese-state owned Hikvision CCTV camera systems in operation.

These figures contribute to a national rise in the number of cameras used by local authorities of 15 per cent between 2019 and 2022.

Cumbria County Council only provided data for the number of cameras used in 2022.

READ MORE: 'Orwellian' Chinese state-owned CCTV operating in Cumbria

Big Brother Watch, a group that campaigns against public surveillance, has said that the number of cameras on the UK's streets is 'out of control'.

However, Cumbria County Council has reaffirmed that CCTV cameras are used to maintain public safety.

A spokeperson said: "We have installed CCTV systems in some of our premises used by members of the public, for the purposes of public and staff safety and the prevention and detection of crime.

"CCTV is also installed on the outside of some of our buildings for the purposes of monitoring building security and crime prevention and detection."

The Cumbria County Council spokesperson also said that no images captured by the CCTV cameras were stored for 'longer than necessary'.

They said: “Images captured by CCTV will not be kept for longer than necessary.

"However, on occasions there may be a need to keep images for longer, for example where a crime is being investigated.”

READ MORE: Cumbria County Council tackles cost-of-living crisis with financial support