The York Council was today celebrating opening a new CCTV control centre.

It was immediately criticised for not making the output of traffic/weather cameras – which monitor congestion levels in the City – available on the internet. Anyone currently trying to access the York Live web site will find that all the displayed cameras are marked as “unavailable”

This contrasts with the policy of the neighbouring North Yorkshire County Council which has, for several years, allowed travellers to check the traffic and weather conditions displayed by 12 “real time” cameras.

The York Council media release says,

The York Travel & Control Centre (YTCC) provides state-of-the-art around the clock coverage through 120 cameras including those at libraries and Park & Ride sites which are monitored 24-hours a day from the CCTV Control Room. It replaces the previous, much smaller CCTV service operated from a Control Room located at Fulford Road police station.

The service comprises a traffic management service, a 24- hour CCTV Control Room and facilities for the police and other third parties to review evidential footage.

As part of the council’s move to West Offices last year, the opportunity was taken to invest in modernising the CCTV Control Room and providing traffic management capabilities, utilising the digital connectivity offered by the council’s new fibre network

The total investment in the development of the YTCC has been in the region of £300,000, the majority of which has come from Department for Transport funding. Due to the new technology used in its development, the running costs of the centre will be similar to the costs of running the old, much smaller CCTV service operated before the move to West Offices.

As part of the development of the YTCC, the old dedicated analogue BT connections have been replaced by digital connectivity via the council’s fibre network, enhancing the system’s flexibility and opportunities for further development.

Along with partners CityFibre and Pinacl Solutions, York is in line to become the most digitally connected city in Europe by 2015 by extending its fibre network.

Already connecting to over 100 council sites, more than 60 schools and 120 CCTV camera locations, the network reach has been expanded to include St Mary’s primary school in the village of Askham Richard and a number of additional new CCTV locations, which are now benefitting from gigabit speed connectivity having been recently added to the core metro fibre network