Source: City of Westminster
Investment of more than £500,000 in CCTV cameras for the West End has been given the go ahead from Westminster City Council.
The money will go towards two of the busiest areas of footfall – Leicester Square, Chinatown, and Soho – where millions of tourists and visitors throng over the year. The decision was agreed at a meeting of the Council’s cabinet on Monday 18 May.
Soho will get 18 cameras as part of a plan supported by Soho Business Alliance as part of a funding package totalling £309,403. Leicester Square and Chinatown meanwhile will receive 14 cameras in a £213,579 investment supported by the Heart of London Business Alliance.
The West End cameras – due to come into commission this Summer – will form part of an overall network of 200 cameras being introduced borough-wide by Westminster City Council and represent the biggest ever investment in CCTV in Westminster’s history.
More than half the promised 200 CCTV cameras are already working and are monitored 24/7 from a control room based in Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
The latest investment on the West End is a key part of the Westminster After Dark strategy, launched earlier this year, which is designed to ensure people can enjoy the night attractions of the City in safety.
Cllr Aicha Less, deputy leader and Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Protection, said:
Soho, Chinatown and the West End see some of the busiest footfall in the world during peak season. We want people to enjoy our fabulous West End but without the misery of mobile phone theft, pick pocketing, watches being stolen or running into aggressive behaviour.
Our new cameras will be there alongside mobile Council cameras already in use to ensure people can enjoy the West End in safety and opportunist criminals find it a harder place to operate. With these cameras going up over the summer, we are delivering against the commitments of Westminster after Dark.