Business owners having to ‘police their own streets’ amid spike in burglaries and lack of CCTV cameras, meeting told

Councillors also demanded to know why many of Wakefield Council’s CCTV cameras are currently out of action.

Members of a scrutiny committee urged the council, police and other partner agencies to work harder to support business owners who have repeatedly been burgled during a city centre crime spree.

Anthony Sadler, the council’s service director for communities, told the climate change and environmental wellbeing scrutiny committee that the council has 177 CCTV cameras across the district.

He said there were “technical issues” with some of the cameras and “temporary solutions” to the problem were being considered.

Committee member Coun Tony Hames asked Mr Sadler: “Apparently, we are led to believe that the CCTV in Wakefield city centre has not been working for about three years.

“Can you say to this committee what steps Wakefield Council are taking to rectify that.

“Is it a case of switching supplier or not?

“Is it a case of new equipment? Are we facing an expensive bill to put it right?”

Mr Sadler said it was untrue that the problem had been going on for three years.

The officer said the council is currently in the process of procuring a new fibre broadband network to support the camera network,

He described the existing camera system as “antiquated” and said the current provider is unwilling to support repair work.

Mr Sadler said: “Unfortunately, the company has decided it doesn’t want to support repairs to the cameras.

“So the issue is that some of the cameras have failed and some of them can’t be fixed without the co-operation of that particular company.

“The money has already been allocated. We are going to bring forward the work that we were going to do,.

“We are replacing, first of all, the cameras in Ossett and Wakefield city centre, because that is where the cameras are failing at the moment.

“We can complete that relatively quickly.”

Mr Sadler said it would take around six weeks for new cameras to be put in place once an order has been made.

He said the local authoirty was looking at “temporary solutions” in the meantime, including deploying mobile CCTV vans in problems areas.

Coun Mohammed Ayub told the meeting:“On a day to day basis I feel as though businesses are having to deal with a spate of break-ins.

“Some of the businesses are having to police their own streets because they don’t feel as if the police are doing that job for them.”

Mr Ayub said he had been contacted by a woman living his Wakefield East ward who owns a business in the city centre.

He said: “She is having to sit in her car outside her business to make sure it isn’t being broken into.

“Can you reassure me that things are happening and business are being supported in the city centre.

“Has there been enough done, through all the partnerships that we have, to make sure that we are serving businesses in the city centre?

“Because, from what I have seen and heard, I don’t think we are.”

Mr Sadler described the situation as “heart-breaking” for business owners who have suffered a break-in.

He said members of the council’s regeneration team have visited victims.

He said: “The best we can do is engage with those businesses.

“With the CCTV, there are technical solutions.

“But there are wider issues that we need to understand.

“I’m not sitting here now and saying we have got this all sorted and it is wonderful, because it absolutely isn’t.

“It is our commitment to address that with the resources that we have.”

Several business owners in the city centre have spoken about the impact of being burgled in recent weeks.

Hakan Kalkan’s Turkish restaurant, Sofira, on Northgate, said he has been broken into seven times since 2021, costing him around £20,000.

He said: “I have asked time and time again for an explanation why the CCTV camera on Northgate is not working and I still don’t know what is going on.

“It is not deterring people from committing crime.”

Wakefield MP Simon Lightwood has called a meeting with police, council chiefs and members of the business community over the crime problem.

It is due to take place at Wakefield Town Hall on Friday, March 10.