A cabinet member says he will not run Lichfield District Council officers under a bus by apologising over failures with a new CCTV system.
The cameras were installed near The Dimbles shops in Lichfield more than six months ago as part of a bid to deter anti-social behaviour and crime.
But it emerged in January that while they were recording, the system had not been monitored live due to issues connecting them to the city’s central control room.
Cllr Dave Robertson had accused the local authority’s chiefs of breaking promises over the issue after it had still not been resolved last month.
Although the link has now been established, the Labour representative for Curborough said residents deserved an apology for the delays.
He told a meeting of Lichfield District Council this week:
“I note no person has on behalf of this council apologised to the community in my ward for the repeated failings and broken promises in relation to the CCTV.”
Cllr Dave Robertson, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Richard Cox, cabinet member for community engagement said that the fault with the system being supplied by a third party meant it was not his place to offer an apology to residents.
“I am not going to apologise when we ourselves have been let down by outside providers.
“If I was to apologise I would be running our own staff under a bus and I’m not prepared to accept that.”
Cllr Richard Cox, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Cox also confirmed at the meeting that he would make all communications he had with officers over the CCTV system issues available to Cllr Robertson.
