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www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk
t: 01454 300 400
May 2018
News
FINALLY! Leisure centre installs CCTV cameras to cover bike parking
T
hree new close-up, hidefinition CCTV cameras have been installed to cover the bike parking areas at Bradley Stoke Leisure (BSLC), a location which has become a hotspot for bike thefts over the last six months. Bradley Stoke is currently suffering an unprecedented spate in bike thefts, with 25 reported stolen in the six-month period from November 2017 to April 2018, compared with just one in the corresponding period twelve months earlier. Of these 25, thirteen were stolen from the leisure centre, some distance ahead of the seven taken from the nearby Willow Brook Centre. With the first theft from the leisure centre occurring on 3rd November, closely followed by six more before the end of the year, several of the victims, and even the local police, remarked on the “completely inadequate” CCTV coverage of the bike parking areas at the centre, which the Journal understands relied on a camera located around 40m away. Following numerous calls from theft victims (or more usually their parents) saying the leisure centre needed to “up its game” on the security front, the Journal obtained a statement from Circadian Trust, the centre operators, in mid-November
which unhelpfully said that “any property, including bikes, is ultimately the individual responsibility of the owner”. The statement said nothing specifically about CCTV for the bike parks, but added that they were “currently looking at increasing CCTV coverage generally in the car park”. Suggestions that notices could be erected warning customers that the area was being targeted by bike thieves, a common practice elsewhere, such as at Parkway Station, were ignored. Following a welcome reduction to just one theft in January, possibly influenced by publicity surrounding the Bike Fest @ The Stokes security awareness event on 6th January (organised by a local bike theft victim), the crime rate at the leisure centre soon shot back up with four bikes being taken in February. With growing disquiet on social media over the lack of action being taken by the leisure centre management, the mother of the next victim (of a theft occurring on 2nd April), chose to escalate the issue to her local South Gloucestershire ward councillors. The Journal understands that it is this action which has finally brought about the installation of the new dedicated cameras for the bike
Dedicated CCTV camera and police warning notice installed at Bradley Stoke Leisure centre in mid-April, nearly six months after a spate of thefts began
parking and a plethora of police warning notices. The Journal contacted the centre to ask why it had taken so long to install CCTV cameras, why warning notices had not been displayed from the outset, when and how had it been decided to install the cameras and who had funded them. Unfortunately, our specific questions weren’t answered; instead we were sent a statement which talks about security in very general terms (see facing page).
Reacting to the news, Sue Harding, whose son Josh organised the Bike Fest in January, said: “I am delighted that BSLC have finally made improvements to the security around the bike sheds. Months of working with the local police team and one other local mum, has finally paid off! It’s a shame it has taken so many bike thefts to occur for the security to be improved, but it is very much a step in the right direction. All we need now is for the Willow Brook Centre
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