Multimillion-pound CCTV upgrade underway at Camden’s housing estates following complaints from residents

Camden is spending more than £4 million to upgrade CCTV cameras across its housing estates as it attempts to curb crime.

It follows complaints from tenants’ and residents’ associations that some cameras are old, causing a variable quality in recordings.

Camden had the second highest volume of crime across London in 2019 but dropped to seventh highest in 2022.

The council has installed 58 new cameras so far, upgraded its CCTV room and put in a new transmitter ring.

The new equipment means engineers will not have to make a special journey to retrieve data, with images downloaded automatically to the control room.

While the work is going on, the council is using mobile cameras to help cut down on crime.

Council tenants will be asked to pay £1.12 a week from April for the enhanced CCTV service for the next seven years.

More than 50,000 patrols were carried out last year, with around six per cent of them in response to requests by residents.

The biggest number of calls, 5,451, was about drug users on estates, followed by anti-social behaviour and so-called ‘youth disorder’.

St Pancras and Somers Town was the most visited ward in 2022, with 24 per cent of all patrols.