Local residents are celebrating after councillors successfully argued for CCTV cameras to be installed on their estate.

The CCTV will be installed on Woodberry Down after council bosses agreed to fund the scheme following pressure from local Labour councillors.

Five moveable cameras – linked to the Hackney CCTV centre which monitors them 24 hours a day - will be put up on the estate before the summer.

The cameras will be based at the crime hot spots but can be moved around to follow the changing crime patterns as the area is redeveloped. 

Labour councillors in Brownswood ward – Cllrs Feryat Demirci, Darren Parker and Brian Bell – have been pushing hard for cameras on the estate.

Cllr Demirci said: “I’m really pleased that the council has agreed to fund CCTV on Woodberry Down.

“As local councillors we have been arguing for CCTV here because we know from talking to residents how it makes people feel safer.”

Cllr Parker added: "CCTV has led to over 2,000 arrests in Hackney, and helped the police recover hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stolen property.  It is great news that the Council is funding CCTV in Woodberry Down."

Local residents have been fully involved in the project through the Estate Development Committee. 

Members of the committee recently undertook a tour of the CCTV centre in Stoke Newington to see the resource in action and see how crime can be counteracted through CCTV.

Peter Naughton, Chair of the Woodberry Down Estate Development Committee, said: “We are delighted that the main Hackney  CCTV system is being extended to Woodberry Down. 

“This means we will have the protection of an on-line CCTV system which is fully monitored  24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

“All residents, and all users of the Manor House transport interchange, will be able to feel much more confident about their personal safety and the safety of the whole neighbourhood.”

Money for the project formed part of the council budget for next year which has frozen council tax for the second year in a row – with a 0% rise for 2007/8.

Labour’s 2007/8 budget also means boosts for key services including an extra £295K to fund free access to all residents under 18 to swimming during school holidays – starting this Easter.

The budget has an extra £80K to extend the opening hours of the Hackney Service Centre from 8am-6pm Monday-Friday to 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and Saturday morning.

Investment to secure the future for Hackney’s Street Wardens to help make our borough cleaner and safer has also been promised.

The budget also contains an extra £250K to roll out compulsory recycling across the borough including for plastics and to introduce blue bins for kitchen waste to all kerbside collections.

And an extra 500 trees on Hackney’s street to be planted on Hackney’s streets – reducing our carbon footprint and making Hackney greener.

In addition, Hackney’s schools are getting an extra £11 million to continue the improvements in education in Hackney that have seen GCSE results improve from 32% in 2002 to 51% today.