Welcome to Grendon Underwood Parish Council

Thank you to all that have contacted us regarding the above. Apologies, this is lengthy but factual.

From the outset of the mega prison proposals (2021) when we met with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) we asked for funding for CCTV in the village. Three hundred residents were present at that meeting so should be aware it has been on the table for some time. Four years ago our case was strong and remains so today. We are now experiencing an obvious increase with absconders, drugs, burglaries, vandalism and so on. In short, it’s unacceptable.

Today, we’ve spoken again with the powers that be within the MoJ. The fact remains they have not said no but they haven't said yes either! This is still very much on the agenda but could take some years as the new prison build is yet to commence. At some point residents will receive communication from the MoJ with a “wish list” request so please do include CCTV in your responses.

We also met with the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC), Thames Valley Police (TVP), and Buckinghamshire Council (BC) in May 2024 to establish the legalities of CCTV in villages. It is not that simple. There are a lot of regulations to follow.

For those of you that attended our Parish Council meeting last September you will be aware that we had also applied for a grant towards CCTV under the crime prevention fund with the PCC. Given they had only £200,000 (two hundred thousand pounds) available for the whole of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire the chance of funding was slim. It was no surprise that our application was unsuccessful.

Today we’ve had further meetings with TVP and BC. The following facts are from the experts.

• ANPR does not help regarding number plate recognition regarding crimes such as we have recently experienced in the village.

• Criminals rarely use the correct number plate and use fake ones.

• ANPR triggers a call to action at the TVP central monitoring station in Milton Keynes (currently).

• ANPR works on intelligence received whereby the number plate has been associated with serious crime, robbery, drugs, firearms and so on.

• Villages cannot monitor their own CCTV.

• Before any CCTV can be installed a public consultation has to take place as is required by the Information Commissioners Office.

• Installation of any public CCTV is expensive. It comes in at tens of thousands of pounds, not hundreds.

• The basic cost of one camera is £5,000 (five thousand pounds), this is for installation and purchase, but this is a basic camera.

• Annual monitoring charges per camera are anything from £2,000 (two thousand pounds) upwards.

• We need at least 4 cameras to cover Edgcott end, A41 end Broadway, Main Street (Kingswood end) and North End Lane. Bear in mind Edgcott are greatly affected too and they will also want to apply to the MoJ for some form of consideration. It's starting to get costly!

• All cameras need to be hard wired.

• All cameras would be monitored by a third party service provider with any enforcements via TVP.

• The ball park figure is £30,000 (thirty thousand pounds) to set up year one with annual monitoring costs thereafter in excess of £8,000 (eight thousand pounds).

Our annual precept is £20,851 (twenty thousand, eight hundred and fifty one pounds) and our annual running costs are around £20,000 (twenty thousand pounds). Our reserves are £12,000 (twelve thousand pounds). The sums don’t work. To make CCTV a reality in the village we need a grant, there are none available, we have explored every avenue. Our best hope currently is the MoJ but the new prison build has yet to commence and completion will take it’s time.

Some of you are saying villagers are happy to contribute. The reality here is that we cannot increase the precept to cover CCTV and even if we could we need to bear in mind there are 334 households in the village with Springhill making up almost 50pct of that number. Springhill residents wouldn’t benefit and in any event it’s private property with the main entrance road belonging to the MoJ. That leaves us with 180 households with a potential cost and installation outlay of £30,000 (thirty thousand pounds) and annual monitoring costs of £8,000 (eight thousand pounds). The sums don’t add up and what happens when a house is sold, do we expect the new owner to cover the costs? The challenges here are too great.

TVP have today advised that in the meantime residents should seek to install their own ring doorbell alarm systems if they are worried, especially given it will take some time for any firm decisions to be made by the MoJ. This does seem a practical solution.

Please know that we really are doing all we can to make this happen and will keep you updated but there is no quick fix.

Stay safe and be vigilant.

Thank you.

Kim Moloney, Chairman

Grendon Underwood Parish Council

Most of you will be aware the traffic on Broadway is becoming a daily challenge... speeding, lorries, vehicles over the white lines, cyclists taking life in their own hands, Church users trying to cross the road, dog walkers unsafe on the footways due to the close proximity of speeding vehicles, horses, children going to school...the list is endless!

Some years ago, we applied for a road safety grant to address the many challenges. Unfortunately, the powers that be did not consider it a priority and we had to settle on speeding devices. Roll forwards six years... increased traffic, not to mention the anticipated traffic increase from the new mega prison build (2026) it's an accident waiting to happen. In short its dangerous and we've made extremely strong representation.

On 17th March, two Parish Councillors and the Church Warden met with BC highways to revisit the dangerous bends and T junction opposite the Church. During the visit we lost count of the speeding cars and lorries and continuous crossing over on the white lines. It was pure luck two lorries didn't meet travelling in opposite directions on the bend before the Church coming from Edgcott.

The BC highways lead witnessed it first hand as did the highways engineer. They know something needs to be done but they are not the decision makers. Other villages also have highway challenges and they too want traffic calming measures.

It's a County wide problem with limited funds to address.

However, we now have an excellent case for BC highways to reconsider our application. We're told this could take two months or so (plus they have elections) before they give an indication of whether or not they agree to invest in our safety.

If we are successful in being reconsidered for traffic calming measures along Broadway, BC will conduct a public consultation with residents before any final decisions can be made.

If we receive any updates we'll let you know. In the meantime please rest assured we have left no stone unturned!

Kim Moloney, Chairman

Grendon Underwood Parish Council