Council finally bids for Kettering park CCTV planning permission - more than 18 months after cameras were installed

A council is finally seeking planning permission for CCTV cameras in three Kettering parks – more than a year-and-a-half AFTER they were first installed.

Surveillance began in the spring of 2021 at the Rockingham Road Pleasure Park, North Park and Mill Road Park as part of a £150,000 project to make the town safer.

Officers from the now-defunct Kettering Borough Council wrongly believed the cameras did not require planning consent, even though the structures exceed the maximum height for permitted development.

And now – eight months after the blunder was first pointed out to them – North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) is finally submitting a planning bid.

One whistleblower said: “It’s alarming that the local planning authority can ride so roughshod over planning laws it has a legal responsibility to enforce.”

Earlier this year NNC also faced a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office that the systems didn’t comply with the law because they lacked signs required by data protection regulations, meaning many park users may potentially have been unlawfully monitored.

The correct signs were later installed by council workers, only for the planning permission gaffe to be noticed months later.

The council did not turn the cameras off in the meantime, saying there was no requirement to do, despite claims that people living nearby had been denied the right to a proper consultation where any concerns could be addressed.

The whistleblower added: "People living round the parks have their homes overlooked by the cameras. If I were them, I would want to check whether there are any invasion of privacy issues, such as how far the cameras can peer into their homes. They should go on the council planning portal to submit their concerns and to ask for safeguards before the system gets planning approval.

“I do not object to the use of these cameras per se, but I don't trust the council's competency to operate them within the law.”

An email sent by a NNC officer, seen by the Northants Telegraph, said that a planning application was prepared earlier this year but that it was not submitted.

A spokesman for the Conservative-run authority said it took ‘some time to develop’ and that they are continuing to address ‘legacy issues’ around CCTV.

The spokesman said: “We are committed to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. CCTV helps us and our partners do that so our local residents and visitors can enjoy our towns, parks and open spaces feeling safer.

“We will continue with our work to ensure legacy issues around CCTV are addressed.

“The CCTV planning application was a legacy issue. In order to bring the application forward it was necessary to do so in the context of wider council policy which has taken time to develop.”

Kettering’s Cllr Anne Lee (Lab, Windmill) said: “It’s wrong. They are not following their own rules.

"I am not against CCTV cameras, but they have to follow the law.”