A council has been accused of breaking promises after it emerged a new CCTV system in Lichfield was still not connected to the main control room for live monitoring.
The cameras were put in place around the Dimbles area in a bid to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour.
Despite being installed more than six months ago, it emerged in January that while the CCTV was being recorded no live monitoring link had been created.
At the time, Lichfield District Council said it was “currently being completed”, but Cllr Dave Robertson, Labour representative for the Curborough ward, said that more than a month later there had still been no progress.
“It’s more than six months now since the district council put the cameras up, but they are still not working properly – it’s over a month since they discovered that they weren’t working properly and they still haven’t fixed it.
“I was told that they would be working by last Friday, but they’re not. Broken promise after broken promise after broken promise – and still no apology to the community and no statement from the cabinet member who is supposed to be in charge of this.
“This is just not acceptable. The council should be supporting the community in North Lichfield, people deserve to have confidence that they can go about their days in safety, and these cameras are supposed to give them that assurance.
“Broken promises won’t cut it. We deserve better than this.”
Cllr Dave Robertson, Lichfield District Council
After Lichfield Live approached the district council for comment, Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of the local authority, said the delays were “unacceptable”.
“We’ve asked a new supplier to step in with an urgent 4G link next week, with a broadband connection in place the week after.
“The delay in getting a CCTV live link up and running at Dimbles has been unacceptable.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council
Councillor Pullen promised visible progress on the Birmingham Road site, before the end of 2022.
Is the lack of process on that project, also unacceptable?
He also promised that work was going to start on the cinema before the end of 2022, but we haven’t even had a planning application yet, let alone the start of works. Has a cinema operator even signed a lease? Who are they? Pullen is all hot air. He also wants to put yet more housing on Friarsgate. Please go the way of Eadie Cllr Pullen!
When words like “broken promises “ are used, it detracts from the actual meaning of what is happening, instead we should focus on the fact that we are being lied to, told things that just aren’t true in the hope that it will pacify and pander to us.
I was told as a young boy not to lie, something which is becoming increasingly common among government officials.
The replacement of these people is up to us, and we should take steps to ensure that those who are chosen have the interest of the common people as a priority, then we might see our beloved Lichfield prosper.