Will hut vandals be caught on CCTV?
11:20am Monday 3rd March 2008
Comments (24)A BEACH hut was destroyed and another badly damaged after being deliberately set on fire by yobs in Bournemouth on Friday night.
The hut at Southbourne Undercliff, was reduced to a blackened husk after being set alight at around 11.45pm. An adjoining hut was also severely damaged by fire.
The blaze was extinguished by fire-fighters at 12.38am on Saturday.
Both were council-owned huts that are rented out.
Over the course of the same evening four other council-owned beach huts were broken into.
On Saturday morning council workmen were boarding up the doors and windows of the properties.
The area where the huts were set alight is covered by CCTV, said beachfront staff.
Mum of six, Debbie Bramley, 44, who shares a nearby council beach hut with four other families, described the incident as "senseless".
She said: "It's awful, such a waste. Maybe they need regular patrols. Even with cameras it still goes on. We've been broken into a couple of times but not set light to.
"I don't expect it was a deliberate personal thing, but it's senseless."
Builder Bob Pearce, 44, father of four, who shares the same beach hut, said: "I think it's a great shame. My first reaction was I'm glad it wasn't ours' but feeling very sorry for the person who rents that out who has now lost the ability to come down and enjoy the beach.
"Fifteen minutes of fun for whoever did it is weeks for a family not being able to get down on the beach."
Police officers attended the scene on Saturday morning as part of on-going investigations into the incident, said a Dorset Police spokesman.
It is believed to be the first beach hut attack this year.
In November last year yobs caused thousands of pounds worth of damage when they torched beach huts in Southbourne resulting in two destroyed and two severely damaged.
Cllr Beverley Dunlop, Cabinet member for economy and tourism which includes the seafront, described the incident as "mindless", but added that the council's state-of-the-art CCTV system should help to tackle beach hut vandalism.
She said: "It's very sad that people vandalise the beach huts because they are there for people's enjoyment and a lot of them do contain personal property.
"However we do have a new CCTV system in place so we are able to monitor the seafront area and this will be a deterrent to would-be vandals."
Your Say YourThisisdorset
davey, bournemouth says...
7:39am Mon 3 Mar 08
Nigel Gillespie, Bournemouth says...
8:17am Mon 3 Mar 08
RichardC, Poole says...
8:20am Mon 3 Mar 08
lets see if it was worth the money and unlike most of the Bournemouth Council/local mafia expenditure/waste actually works.
Derek Cox, Bournemouth says...
9:00am Mon 3 Mar 08
Trifecta, Southbourne says...
9:06am Mon 3 Mar 08
Deja vue? Last weekend we had a tragedy in town but were assured after the event that the town was perfectly safe and now Ms.Dunlop is telling us, after the event(on a totally different scale of course), that vandals are deterred by CCTV!! It beggars belief!
Is this the same woman who declared that the public needed educating last week?
Pots and kettles dear.
PokesdownMark, Pokesdown says...
12:02pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Also even if the cameras are working, and someone is watching the screens, and sees a group of people wandering along the prom... or more likely, a number of different groups of people wandering along different parts of the prom. At what stage to they call the police? When one of the people disappears between the huts? Are they just lighting a cigarette out of the wind? Or kissing their g/f? Or starting a fire?! Clearly, though CCTV has proved incredible useful in some circumstances, it is an investigative tool, not a preventive tool. So what are the council going to use as a real preventive tool?
Christopher, Wallisdown & Winton West says...
12:36pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Last week the Council informed us of building more Beach Huts at Alum Chine worth £25000. Not that I could afford one, but I would be severely peeved off if that went up in smoke.
Thinking caps on councillors.
rf, Bournemouth says...
2:23pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Tim M, usa says...
2:55pm Mon 3 Mar 08
fedupwithjobsworths, Moordown says...
4:00pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Tim M wrote:I think most hut owners would love to cut the Council out ... they have to pay about £800 PA to them in site rent at the moment.
Perhaps the owners/renters could part-finance their own "Hutwatch" scheme in cooperation with the police and cut out the Council altogether?
Mr Angry, Bournemouth says...
5:22pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Bosskom, westbourne says...
8:19pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Gordon, Poole says...
10:23pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Vandals caught could be put to work clearing litter from the beaches & town
davey, bournemouth says...
8:10am Tue 4 Mar 08
Or mothers with children....
What kind of people do you think have beach huts, and how much spare time do you really think they have?
Going on from your Idea I guess if they are IP cameras why not make them public? So anybody can have a look online, then people might spot crimes as they are happening?!
adrian fudge, boscombe east says...
8:39am Tue 4 Mar 08
The delay in getting the new system back into operation was because the surveilance of the moniters was to be done in a new center at Maderia Road by the Police in conjunction with the Council
If this new control room is now operational surely the Police were well aware what was going on or if not why not
RichT, Christchurch says...
10:15am Tue 4 Mar 08
fedupwithjobsworths wrote:I wonder what the council do with all this money they collect for every beach hut? It doesn't look like they spend any on preventing this crime against the huts!
Tim M wrote: Perhaps the owners/renters could part-finance their own "Hutwatch" scheme in cooperation with the police and cut out the Council altogether?I think most hut owners would love to cut the Council out ... they have to pay about £800 PA to them in site rent at the moment.
seven year itch, says...
11:13am Tue 4 Mar 08
fedupwithjobsworths wrote:Oh yeah, what they going to do then, float their huts above ground so they don't have to pay rental for the site.
Tim M wrote:I think most hut owners would love to cut the Council out ... they have to pay about £800 PA to them in site rent at the moment.
Perhaps the owners/renters could part-finance their own "Hutwatch" scheme in cooperation with the police and cut out the Council altogether?
seven year itch, says...
11:14am Tue 4 Mar 08
fedupwithjobsworths wrote:Oh yeah, what they going to do then, float their huts above ground so they don't have to pay rental for the site.
Tim M wrote:I think most hut owners would love to cut the Council out ... they have to pay about £800 PA to them in site rent at the moment.
Perhaps the owners/renters could part-finance their own "Hutwatch" scheme in cooperation with the police and cut out the Council altogether?
seven year itch, says...
11:27am Tue 4 Mar 08
Trifecta wrote:About the fact if we don't have shingle on the beach we won't have one. Unless DEFRA are liars too if we don't have shingle on our beaches it will apparently end up in Christchurch harbour and flood Christchurch and eventually we would have no beach at all and potentially lose properties along the coast. Quite funny to see all those nouveau rich castles in sandbanks slip into the water though.
"However we do have a new CCTV system in place so we are able to monitor the seafront area and this will be a deterrent to would-be vandals."
Deja vue? Last weekend we had a tragedy in town but were assured after the event that the town was perfectly safe and now Ms.Dunlop is telling us, after the event(on a totally different scale of course), that vandals are deterred by CCTV!! It beggars belief!
Is this the same woman who declared that the public needed educating last week?
Pots and kettles dear.
PETE WOODLEY, says...
2:58pm Tue 4 Mar 08
Trifecta wrote:You are talking about a cabinet member,who once said she did not like working with men,yet couldnt wait to get on the cabinet,a very foolish young madam,very juvenile.
"However we do have a new CCTV system in place so we are able to monitor the seafront area and this will be a deterrent to would-be vandals."
Deja vue? Last weekend we had a tragedy in town but were assured after the event that the town was perfectly safe and now Ms.Dunlop is telling us, after the event(on a totally different scale of course), that vandals are deterred by CCTV!! It beggars belief!
Is this the same woman who declared that the public needed educating last week?
Pots and kettles dear.
PETE WOODLEY, says...
2:59pm Tue 4 Mar 08
Trifecta wrote:You are talking about a cabinet member,who once said she did not like working with men,yet couldnt wait to get on the cabinet,a very foolish young madam,very juvenile.
"However we do have a new CCTV system in place so we are able to monitor the seafront area and this will be a deterrent to would-be vandals."
Deja vue? Last weekend we had a tragedy in town but were assured after the event that the town was perfectly safe and now Ms.Dunlop is telling us, after the event(on a totally different scale of course), that vandals are deterred by CCTV!! It beggars belief!
Is this the same woman who declared that the public needed educating last week?
Pots and kettles dear.
PETE WOODLEY, says...
3:09pm Tue 4 Mar 08
adrian fudge wrote:Can we be told if cameras are monitored and by whom.
The question that needs to be asked is who is monitering the cameras
The delay in getting the new system back into operation was because the surveilance of the moniters was to be done in a new center at Maderia Road by the Police in conjunction with the Council
If this new control room is now operational surely the Police were well aware what was going on or if not why not
Carl Barron, Dorset says...
8:38pm Wed 5 Mar 08
All of the above is the fault of weak leadership, doing away with 'National Service,' then doing away with Hanging a life for a life is what it should be. Our country ruled by blood sweat and tears hard work and plenty of it. Now the country is being taken over by Crime escalating every week.
We need to bring back Laws that worked regardless of whether or not they are Politically Correct .
Never mind the so called Taliban our own home grown Terrorist need to be dealt with and at the rate were going it will end up with troops on the streets like Northern Ireland if we don't.
To get a good picture of how run down Britain has become, copy paste the link below into your browser.
http://uk.geocities.
com/tasknews/
VANDALISM: A burnt out beach hut at Southbourne
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fedupwithjobsworths, Moordown says...
7:14am Mon 3 Mar 08