4/4/2008£300,000 CCTV scheme on way for Merchant City
CCTV cameras are finally to be installed in Glasgow's Merchant City in a £300,000 investment.
The devices will go up within the next few weeks at nine different hotspots in the heart of the city's eating, shopping and drinking district.
The move will be welcomed by both residents and traders in an area which until now, has been served by a single CCTV camera at Glasgow Cross.
One of the cameras will be placed on the edge of Paddy's Market at Shipbank Lane despite council plans to close down the historic attraction later this year.
Blighted by violent crime, theft and drug offences, the 200-year-old market could be gone by the autumn.
The nine new cameras are aimed at making everyone in the Merchant city feel safer.
Two are planned for Ingram Street and one each in Cochrane Street, High Street, Bell Street, Trongate, Saltmarket and Parnie Street.
It's part of efforts to transform the Merchant City which fell into decline in the 1960s.
Thanks to a new era of regeneration the area now boasts luxury flats, nightlife, designer shops and a thriving artistic quarter.
The new cameras are being jointly funded by the agency now in charge of the city's CCTV cameras, Glasgow Community and Safety Services and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow.
A spokesman for Glasgow Community and Safety Services said: "We are currently deciding on the most cost-effective and efficient way of delivering nine CCTV cameras in the Merchant City area.
"We aim to begin work installing these cameras in the coming weeks."
More than 300 security cameras cover Glasgow and are monitored at the CCTV base in Blochairn.
As reported by the Evening Times last November two of the citiest busiest thoroughfares - Byres Road in the West End and Kilmarnock Road in Shawlands do not have a camera between them.
Campaigners have criticised the lack of coverage as "a ridiculous oversight" and said they fear crimes are going unpunished as a result.
A shock 1926 crimes were committed at or near Paddy's Market during 2005/2006 according to police statistics.
The devices will go up within the next few weeks at nine different hotspots in the heart of the city's eating, shopping and drinking district.
The move will be welcomed by both residents and traders in an area which until now, has been served by a single CCTV camera at Glasgow Cross.
One of the cameras will be placed on the edge of Paddy's Market at Shipbank Lane despite council plans to close down the historic attraction later this year.
Blighted by violent crime, theft and drug offences, the 200-year-old market could be gone by the autumn.
The nine new cameras are aimed at making everyone in the Merchant city feel safer.
Two are planned for Ingram Street and one each in Cochrane Street, High Street, Bell Street, Trongate, Saltmarket and Parnie Street.
It's part of efforts to transform the Merchant City which fell into decline in the 1960s.
Thanks to a new era of regeneration the area now boasts luxury flats, nightlife, designer shops and a thriving artistic quarter.
The new cameras are being jointly funded by the agency now in charge of the city's CCTV cameras, Glasgow Community and Safety Services and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow.
A spokesman for Glasgow Community and Safety Services said: "We are currently deciding on the most cost-effective and efficient way of delivering nine CCTV cameras in the Merchant City area.
"We aim to begin work installing these cameras in the coming weeks."
More than 300 security cameras cover Glasgow and are monitored at the CCTV base in Blochairn.
As reported by the Evening Times last November two of the citiest busiest thoroughfares - Byres Road in the West End and Kilmarnock Road in Shawlands do not have a camera between them.
Campaigners have criticised the lack of coverage as "a ridiculous oversight" and said they fear crimes are going unpunished as a result.
A shock 1926 crimes were committed at or near Paddy's Market during 2005/2006 according to police statistics.