Live monitoring of town centre CCTV is to be continued after a successful trial.

The network of cameras in Maidstone was due to switch to a record-only system following a decision by Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) to downgrade the service.

Initially live monitoring of images ended in March, with the council predicting the cost of operating the CCTV network would drop from £273,000 to £118,000 annually as a result of the changes.

The savings were sought following an upgrade of the borough's 32 cameras to new high definition, Wi-Fi enabled equipment.

Following the reduction in active surveillance, the One Maidstone business improvement district (BID) group stepped in with the offer of a trial of 24-hour live coverage.

Now, following six months of trial operation, One Maidstone and MBC have now agreed to the organisation taking on the live monitoring of Maidstone's town centre CCTV network on a permanent basis.

One Maidstone BID manager Ilsa Butler said: "We understand the importance of monitored CCTV for the town centre businesses that we represent, as well as its value in helping those who live, work and visit Maidstone to feel safe, and to be safe.

"To this end, we feel it's a positive step that we have been able to negotiate with MBC to facilitate One Maidstone providing a monitoring service, a move that has been welcomed by businesses.

"The successful six month trial carried out by One Maidstone evidences our ability to prevent a move to a record-only system - combined with our widely used town centre security radios and our close partnership work with Kent Police, we believe that this new service from the BID will help reduce and prevent crime moving forwards."

One Maidstone will continue to provide trained CCTV operators to complement the town centre Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) radio system it already manages.

Reports and requests for assistance can be received by One Maidstone via its radio network, supported by viewing any active incidents via the CCTV system.

One Maidstone has also recently scrapped ongoing membership charges for its BCRP radios for BID levy-paying businesses, in a move it hopes will help reduce costs for town centre firms as they struggle in the wake of Covid-19.

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