The CCTV network in Wellingborough is being extended, with more cameras covering a wider area and a state-of-the-art upgrade for existing cameras, thanks to investment by Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold and the Borough Council of Wellingborough.

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold has invested £80,000 to provide seven new cameras in the Wellingborough, as part of his Safer Streets Project.  The Borough Council of Wellingborough is investing a further £35,000 to give cameras on the current network an upgrade to the  most modern specifications.

The Commissioner’s office successfully bid for funding to carry out crime prevention projects in Wellingborough, Kettering and Northampton.  Around £545,700 from the total grant of £1.4 million that the Commissioner received, is being spent to make homes and the environment in Wellingborough’s Victoria Ward more secure.

The seven new cameras will extend the reach around the Mill Road, Cannon Street, Knox Road areas of Wellingborough.  The funding from the Borough Council of Wellingborough will ensure that the new cameras and all of those on the existing system will be the latest digital models that provide the best quality images.

Output from the cameras will provide support to the police in investigating crime and anti-social behaviour and it is hoped that the extended camera network will also deter crime and anti-social behaviour and help the community to be and feel safer.

The Safer Streets funding enabled the Commissioner’s Office to provide security packs to more than 2,500 homes in Wellingborough, with 600 homes already benefitting from home security measures worth £100, and another 550 identified homes being offered the same support in the coming weeks.

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold said: “Extending and improving the CCTV system in Wellingborough will enhance the safety of the public spaces, deter crime and anti-social behaviour and help to reassure people that this is a safe place to be.  I am pleased that I have been able to make this investment into measures that improve the security of local communities and to work with the local council to keep people safe.

“Already, the Safer Streets funding has enabled us to provide security packs to more than 2,500 homes in Wellingborough, and our programme to gate off alleys that compromise the safety of hundreds of homes is about to begin.  It’s a great privilege to have the funding available to support these physical improvements to reduce crime in local communities.”

Cllr Martin Griffiths, Leader of the Borough Council of Wellingborough, said: “We are determined to continue to work with Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and other partner organisations to make Wellingborough a safer place to live work and visit. As well as the excellent initiatives already mentioned, the Borough Council of Wellingborough has invested capital to completely transform the town’s multi storey car park, a location that has been the scene of anti-social behaviour, low level crime, and even arson, for a number of years.

“We will continue to take out a target hardening approach to tackling crime in the borough and indeed in North Northamptonshire after the new Unitary Authority is formed next month.”

The first of the new cameras will be in place by the end of March.

In the next few weeks, extra CCTV cameras will also be added to the schemes in Northampton and Kettering, thanks to the Commissioner’s Safer Streets Scheme.