Marlborough’s controversial CCTV scheme has started to roll out. Without any fanfare, the first two of six cameras have been mounted on the front of Marlborough Town Hall.
Two more – which will be erected on the front of Waitrose and at Marlborough Library – are going through the planning process and should be online soon.
And the final two will be erected above Accessorize on Marlborough High Street, with one looking up Hughenden Yard, home to the town’s only nightclub.
The delay, town clerk Shelley Parker told members of Marlborough’s Town Team – a forum of councillors and business leaders – on Thursday, was that cameras needed to be mounted on buildings, and many buildings in Marlborough’s High Street are listed, or owned by absentee landlords, which made obtaining permission difficult.
It has been just over a year since Marlborough Area Board awarded a grant of £5,000 to Marlborough Chamber of Commerce to start the CCTV ball rolling.
Marlborough Town Council jumped in with a further £20,000. The scheme was a favoured project of the mayor, Marian Hannaford-Dobson, who has campaigned for CCTV for 12 years.
The project has not been without its detractors: the £5,000 grant to Marlborough Chamber of Commerce – which had already been promised in 2013, but was put on hold due to lack of funds – was finally awarded in April 2014; but not before a slight majority of citizens in the room voted against it.
A week later, in the town council chamber, Councillor Nick Fogg was on his feet, questioning the wisdom of the scheme.
But CCTV has its supporters too. A high-profile public consultation exercise in 2013 saw 64 percent of respondents back the call for cameras.
And the granting of £5,000 to Marlborough Chamber of Commerce came just a month after five armed raiders robbed Deacon & Sons jewellery store in Marlborough High Strret.
Police had previously warned that Marlborough – the only town on the M4 corridor without CCTV – was considered a soft touch by professional criminals.