Sussex cameras to spy on waste dumpers

4:47pm Sunday 6th January 2008

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Sussex is developing an unwanted reputation as a Big Brother state after it was revealed it was deploying yet more spy cameras.

The county has emerged as a national hotspot for CCTV devices at rubbish tips to record who goes there and what they dump.

The news follows just days after it was revealed West Sussex County Council was planning to bring in a network of clandestine cameras to catch cars parking illegally on its streets.

The 16 spy cameras deployed at tips across West Sussex can read number plates and are wired to the DVLA's driver database so operators can immediately track the owners of vehicles visiting dumps.

They have been heralded as a way of cracking down on illegal dumpers but have been criticised as an intrusion on people's privacy and an encouragement to fly-tip elsewhere.

The county council has more than triple the number of cameras of any other authority in the country. The next highest is Gloucestershire County Council with five.

A dozen West Sussex tips are covered and several have two cameras each, including Billingshurst, Burgess Hill, Sompting and Westhampnett.

Brighton and Hove has also been keeping an electronic watch with one camera each at its dumps in Wilson Avenue, Brighton, and Old Shoreham Road, Hove.

The pair are among ten councils in England using the cameras.

A spokesman for surveillance watchdog Privacy International said: "This is another example of CCTV overkill. I would be very concerned about how these images are used and who has access to them."

West Sussex County Council said the cameras were used for security, deterring trade waste and complaints monitoring.

A council spokesman said: "The cameras read and store registration plates to identify high-level users. A trader illegitimately getting rid of commercial waste on the site is likely to be a more frequent user."

Conservative politician Eric Pickles questioned the wisdom of the move, suggesting it would lead to an increase in fly-tipping in the countryside.

He said: "The money spent on these cameras would have been better spent tackling fly-tipping. We have more surveillance than any other country in the world and this is just a further intrusion."

This week The Argus reported on West Sussex County Council's plans to bring in CCTV traffic control cameras which will catch offenders who might have gone unnoticed by parking wardens.

The scheme was part of a proposal which included new two tier fine systems, with some offences considered worse than others.