A furious row has broken out over plans to scrap a network of CCTV cameras across the West End just as the 24-hour Tube service starts up for the first time.
Critics said they feared the cash saving move by Westminster council would trigger a new crime wave and a return of central London’s damaging “Wild West End” reputation of the Nineties and early Noughties.
They pointed out that installation of the cameras in 2003 was followed by a 30 per cent fall in street crime.
But the Conservative-controlled council has said that it can no longer afford the £1 million bill for maintaining and monitoring the 136 cameras across the borough, of which 83 are in the West End and St James’s wards.
A proposal to switch off the ageing cameras on September 1 will go before the local authority’s cabinet next Monday and is expected to be approved.
According to a report from the borough’s principal policy officer Richard Cressey, maintaining the network “is not considered the most effective use of the council’s limited resources”.
It goes on to say that efforts to secure help in sharing the costs of the cameras from the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor have failed.
Axeing the network will save £1.4 million earmarked for an upgrade after the £300,000 cost of removing the cameras.
But Cllr Glenys Roberts, who represents the West End ward, said: “I find it extraordinary that the Cabinet are prepared to put the future of the cameras in doubt and the West End at risk — especially when we are expecting more and more visitors with the 24- hour Tube in August and need more protection, not less.”
Fellow West End councillor Cllr Jonathan Glanz, who represents West End ward and is a former adviser to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), said he was “deeply concerned” by the proposal.
As well as a deterrent to criminals the cameras would play a vital role in detecting terrorists in the event of an attack on London, he said.
Some business leaders have also said they are concerned about the move. Club owner Jeremy Joseph, who runs the G-A-Y and Heaven venues, tweeted: “I Ask @CityWestminster to reconsider plans to scrap its network of cameras making Soho Have No CCTV.”
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