City Council identifies number of projects where CCTV 'may prove beneficial' in tackling illegal dumping

PROGRESS is being made on the requirements local authorities must have in place before CCTV can be used for the purposes of litter and waste enforcement, Cork City Council has said.

In a report issued to councillors at a strategic policy committee meeting this week, the local authority said that, while the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 provided for GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies — such as CCTV — for waste enforcement purposes, the act “placed very significant requirements on local authorities before they could commence the use of CCTV for enforcement purposes”.

Report 

These included completing standard operating procedures and policy documents, codes of practice, guidance, templates, and data-sharing agreement, and data-processing agreement.

“The Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications set up a working group who have now completed the required guidance documents that will support the development of standard operating procedures and policy documents locally,” the council stated.

“The WERLAs [Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities] have, in conjunction with a third-party consultant, developed general guidance, templates, and standard operating procedures to assist local authorities in the implementation of the codes.

“These templates have been legally proofed to ensure that they will sustain a legal challenge in the courts, should the same materialise during a prosecution.”

The report added that template data-sharing agreements and template data-processing agreements are in the process of being approved by the local authority data protection network.

“Once all of the above requirements have been fully met, Cork City Council will be in a position to recommence the use of CCTV to support litter and waste enforcement activities,” the council stated.

'Severely restricted'

The council said its environmental management department has identified “a number of projects where the use of CCTV may prove beneficial in the prevention of litter and illegal dumping”, and work is ongoing in preparation for all of the required documentation being in place to allow these projects to proceed.

However, the council added that the use of CCTV is “severely restricted to certain specific situations”, adding that CCTV “is not a panacea solution to every littering or dumping problem”.

As an example, the council explained that CCTV “has a use in identifying vehicles involved in illegal dumping, but not necessarily individuals, at night who may be obscuring their identity”.

“The new legislation permits Cork City Council to use CCTV in limited circumstances to tackle waste and illegal dumping issues,” the report stated.

“CCTV is not appropriate for all locations, and thus Cork City Council will continue to use other enforcement means.”

'Useful tool'

Commenting after the meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent said that, while there may be limitations in the use of CCTV, he believes it is a useful tool in tackling illegal dumping.

“It’s a bit more restrictive than we might have thought … but I still think it’s something that’s needed that the council will be able to use CCTV in terms of littering and dumping,” he said.

Mr Nugent said he accepted that a “multi-stand approach” is required to combat the issue, but said he believes CCTV is an “important piece of that” in acting as a deterrent.