York Museum Gardens CCTV

York Museum Gardens bosses have been asked to justify the need to install seven CCTV cameras in a city park.

13:08 30 April 2018

Earlier this year, the York Museums Trust (YMT) has applied for a planning permission to install seven cameras, including near the Hospitium, near the entrance on Museum Street and around the Yorkshire Museum building itself. At the time of submission, the trust said that the CCTV cameras were needed due to increased terror threat.

 

However, planners and heritage experts in York found the application to lack important details needed for it to be approved. They said: “I need to understand what exactly the public benefits of the proposals are, what the security risks are and thus the need for the CCTV cameras.”

 

The trust’s chief executive Dr David Fraser echoed the concern saying that although he would “ordinarily be inclined to support York Museums Trust in its protection and upkeep of the Museums Gardens”, his organisation cannot support the plan in its current “incomplete” form.

 

He added: “The application fleetingly refers to the added threat of terrorism, and from this the requirement for seven CCTV cameras to be installed. It is, however, unclear if the cameras are designed to be for surveillance purposes (for which they may possibly be better served by being discreetly fixed and not prominent to the eye) or for deterrence purposes (for which they would need to be prominent to the eye).”

 

A spokesman for the YMT said they had since submitted a more detailed document for planners to consider.