Council gives go ahead for £160,000 investment in CCTV for Ormskirk Town Centre

• Council secures £160,000 of investment to improve Ormskirk Town Centre’s CCTV system. 
• Investment will see a major upgrade to the existing CCTV system and equipment.  
• Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure on our streets.  

At a meeting of Full Council last night, members gave the green light for a significant investment in CCTV upgrades for Ormskirk Town Centre, making the area even safer for those visiting and living in the historic market town.   

The funding will be used to upgrade the Council’s existing CCTV system and equipment and provide new camera installations at key points across the town centre.   

The £160,000 spend is a significant investment for the town and will help to protect and enhance the safety of residents, tourists and our student community when visiting Ormskirk Town Centre. Edge Hill University’s ‘Red Routes’ will also benefit from the new installations, with the aim of detecting and preventing anti-social behaviour and violence towards women and girls.   

The funding was acquired by the West Lancashire Community Safety Partnership (CSP) who submitted a bid to the Lancashire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for funding allocation from the Home Office Safer Streets fund.   

Councillor Gareth Dowling, Deputy Leader of the Council and portfolio holder for Planning and Community Safety, said "We all strive for Ormskirk to be a safe place for residents and visitors, but like all town centre areas, there can be an anti-social element negatively impacting our community.    

“As a Council, we share the determination to tackle this effectively. Everyone deserves to feel safe on our streets, particularly women and girls, but all residents, students and visitors and we will do all we can to protect their welfare.   

Paul Charlson, Chair of the West Lancashire Community Safety Partnership added: “The partnership is delighted to have secured this funding and this enhanced CCTV provision will allow us and our partner agencies to tackle ASB issues at source even more effectively so that the small minority who cause serious issues for our town centre residents, students and businesses will see that their behaviour will dealt with appropriately.”   

This funding compliments our increased CCTV and community safety investment across the borough.