High CCTV Coverage in Bolton

Concerns raised as it emerged that the number of CCTV in Bolton is much higher than neighbouring towns.

06:06 12 December 2022

Bolton Borough Council operates hundreds of CCTV cameras, new figures have revealed. 

According to reports, the local council currently controls 529 cameras, a figure that is much higher compared to neighbouring communities. Salford had a total of 184 while Bury only had 94 cameras. 

Cllr Rabiya Jiva said: "I’m actually concerned about the numbers of cameras we have to be honest compared to Salford.

"I will raise this and look into it and ask the relevant department as to why this is the case.

"It would mean either we need it for safety reasons or we need to review the positioning and the volume of cameras in the borough and what is the need for them."

Corps Monitoring, a security firm, weighed in and said that the increase in the number of CCTV cameras controlled by local councils could be partly attributed to the fall in equipment cost in recent years, alongside the wide availability of high-speed internet. 

Currently, the London Borough of Hackney remains in the top spot of the list of the highest number of cameras in the UK with 3,119.