The ruling Conservative group on Cherwell District Council has succumbed to pressure from Labour and abandoned plans to cut CCTV from towns across the region.

The proposal would have removed all live monitoring of 80 cameras across Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington by ending participation in the jointly funded partnership with Thames Valley Police, and was expected to relegate the camera network to only being used for retrospective evidence gathering.

Last month, Labour Opposition leader Councillor Sean Woodcock (Banbury Ruscote) moved to have the the cuts taken off the table, but this was voted down by six of the seven Conservative members on the Budget Planning Committee.

Labour Councillor Perran Moon (Banbury Grimsbury & Hightown) then made a request for a referral to the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber. Councillor Moon described the Conservatives proposals as “idiotic”.

Reacting to the belated change of course, Councillor Woodcock said, “It seems Conservative chaos has spread from the national to the local party, with this latest screeching u-turn. Months ago, it was obvious to all except them that this was a daft and dangerous plan. But they decided to plough on regardless, rather than admitting they’d got it wrong and dropping it last year.”

While the council are seeking to save money under the pressure of the COVID funding crisis instigated by the Conservatives in Westminster (that even local Conservatives concede amount to a financial apocalypse) is is unclear how Conservative councillors arrived at the reasoning that cutting the CCTV scheme (which was acknowledged by  their own report to provide “universal benefits for residents, visitors and businesses in Cherwell”) was an appropriate response.

“Labour in Cherwell, under my leadership, will always be tough of crime and anti-social behaviour and do all we can to ensure that residents across the region feel safe and secure. As the Conservatives go soft on crime, rest assured we will continue to hold them to account and not compromise on such vital crime prevention measures.’”

Councillor Sean Woodcock