Issue - meetings

To approve the award of the contract for the upgrade the Council’s CCTV network and public wi-fi access points to support the UKSPF ‘Connected Towns’ project.

Appendix 1 is exempt under Section 100(a)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972; paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act. The press and public may be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Appendix 1, on the grounds that if they were to be present, exempt information could be disclosed to them.

Purpose of report

To approve the use of the Crown Commercial Framework RM6116 Network Services 3 Framework to award the contract to upgrade the Council’s CCTV network and support the UKSPF ‘Connected Towns’ project.

Decision

That Cabinet approves the award of the contract to British Telecom PLC for the upgrade of the Council’s CCTV Camera Network, provision of wireless hubs and the annual repairs and maintenance of the network for a period of 5 years.

Alternative options considered and rejected

The Council could have gone directly out to market, however, the existing network was currently provided by British Telecom PLC and switching supplier was not expected to deliver any benefit. It was not anticipated that going out directly to market would provide any preferential arrangement due to the economies of scale offered by the framework.

Reasons for decision

To ensure that the Council’s CCTV network was upgraded, the quality of the CCTV imagery would be improved, the new control room location would improve the partnership working with the police who may benefit from a reduced timeline to review CCTV footage and to enable the installation of free-to-access public Wi-Fi.

The 2023/2024 capital programme included a budget of £597,000 for the upgrade of the CCTV network and Connected Towns project.

The CCTV control room was to be relocated to Grantham Police Headquarters; this relocation would bring a number of benefits, as documented in a report to Cabinet earlier in 2023/2024.

BT would upgrade the analogue network and replace with high-definition cameras. The upgrade included free to access public wifi points which would connect to the BT network. There was a capital budget shortfall of £15,000 which would be refunded through the Property Maintenance Reserve. BT would provide the annual repairs and maintenance service for £122,000 per year for a 5 year period. The revenue budget included £70,000 for the repair and maintenance of the CCTV network; savings would be identified in the 2024/2025 General Fund Budget to meet the shortfall of £52,000.

Members expressed an interest in a visit to the new Police Headquarters in Grantham at some point in the future.