Community Alert committee in Graine and Urlingford working with authorities to secure CCTV

During the past year the local Community Alert committee in Graine and Urlingford have sent out many text alerts to its 400 members. These alerts are invaluable in informing members of potential criminal activity and scams being tried around the county.
In January the committee proposed putting up CCTV cameras in the parish. Photographs and sketches of camera positions were submitted to Kilkenny Co Council for approval. This was a lengthy planning process where under Section 5 of the planning process each site was analysed.
Following on from this the Council recommended submitting some sites for evaluation under section 57 – protected structures to see whether the proposed buildings might be materially affected. Due to Council recommendations some sites were deemed not suitable and thus alternative locations had to be found.
In early Summer the Committee got an engineering firm to carry out stress test on Garda mast to see if it was suitable and safe to transmit signals from country sites to local Garda station and library.
Later on some work was done on preparing a tender document for the project. Several meetings took place in preparing a draft tender document. This document still needs further evaluation and consideration.
In September and October the committee met ESB officials from both Thurles and Kilkenny to assess sites for suitability for power. They visited all the possible sites and made useful recommendations. The cost of linking cameras with power is proving to be a costly venture.
All CCTV systems must comply with national legal requirements. The CCTV project has to be approved by the joint policing authority.
It has to have the authorisation of the Garda Commissioner; it has to have approval by the local County Council. To date the Council still needs clarification on certain issues before they will be in a position to move CCTV projects forward.
The local committee is working diligently with the Co Council, the Garda Siochana, CCTV installers, and various consultants to move forward this much needed project.
In the meantime members are urged to be on the alert - safeguarding their property and keeping an eye on vulnerable people in our parish. The AGM of the community alert will be held in January.