PLANS for a convenience store in Darlington have been rejected over fears it could become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

There were plans to surround the would-be store on Greenbank Road with security cameras, but their deterrent value was questioned by police.

Darlington Borough councillors expressed disbelief after hearing a Durham Constabulary crime prevention expert’s view that CCTV outside a proposed shop would not be effective in discouraging trouble and could even generate extra nuisance in the area.

Steven Drabik, the force’s architectural liaison officer, said the addition of four external cameras to Jagir Singh’s plan to open a corner shop would be unlikely to have a deterrent effect because the premises was about 100m from an antisocial hotspot at the Dene park. 

A meeting of the authority’s planning committee heard Mr Drabik believed the deterrent effect of CCTV cameras had “never been adequately quantified”, and that CCTV was “best used as a detection device to identify offenders after the event”.

Mr Drabik told members: “Normally, the police would encourage people to have CCTV, but in this instance we don’t see it is going to have a great impact on deterring young people, because young people of this century have grown up with CCTV and it is not particularly a deterrent effect on them and some of them actually play up to CCTV cameras and it generates a carry-on.”

However, the meeting heard the council’s environmental health manager had found the proposal to introduce a bank of CCTV cameras outside the store was likely to lessen antisocial behaviour.

Planning consultant Steve Hesmondhalgh said the hope with installing extensive camera coverage outside the shop was that “youths would see the CCTV and then move on”.

Mr Singh said he knew from experience how CCTV served as a deterrent, as youths were aware antisocial behaviour could be shown to their parents by store owners. 

Councillor Ian Galletley said the police’s case on the use of CCTV did not make sense.

He said: “I can remember debates in the council chamber saying that the reduction in CCTV due to budget reductions would be the end of the world and would obviously lead to an increase in recorded crime. To hear a representative of the police actually saying it would have virtually no deterrent effect... I would like to see actual research on that.  This is a worrying thing to say.

“The council relies heavily and employs a great number of people to look at CCTV cameras most days for many hours to try to prevent... so to say it has little effect seems a bit thick.”

Members rejected Mr Singh’s application after finding it could act as a magnet for anti-social behaviour.