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Untitled-20 1 18/02/16 10:18
borough goes wireless:
Slough
bombs
ahead
Above, Peter Webster.
Slough has a
reputation for being
unlovely-looking -
pictured top, the main
A4, and an empty
business unit; but it’s
regenerating - as at
the new bus station,
pictured right
Photos by Mark Rowe
About Slough Borough
Council CCTV
Peter Webster has a
224-camera system,
and has just bought
another 33 online.
He covers around
the town, but not on
the trading estate,
which has its own
100-camera system,
as featured in May.
Peter still has a mix
of analogue and highdefinition
cameras, ‘but
what new cameras that
we install, it’s always
a Bosch 7230. It’s the
best camera for our
needs, and Bosch are
fully integrated into our
platform.’
66
One of the speakers at ST17 London
only had to come down the road. He
told the conference of the winding
road to find a new high point for
wireless transmission for his council
CCTV system - but it turned out right.
Peter Webster, CCTV and
careline centre manager at
Slough Borough Council, took
the audience through his project.
Lessons he’d learned, as he summed
up at the end, were ‘working with
partners to achieve shared goals’,
in his case Thames Valley Police;
‘plan, plan, plan’ and yet be prepared
to throw it in the bin (as he had to),
and be ambitious, and innovate, and
never give up. CCTV managers, he
suggested, have to learn things they
never expected to, and be ‘jack of
all trades’. That’s partly due to local
government austerity; also, geography.
Blame Betjeman
Peter wasted no time in facing up to
the Surrey town’s poor reputation
thanks to the poet John Betjeman,
and comedian Ricky Gervais of
TV’s The Office fame. But, as Peter
showed, Slough is regenerating; and
as featured in the May issue, Slough
Trading Estate with its offices and
data centres is thriving. “Believe it
or not, Slough has a gentrification
issue.” All the new builds landed
Peter with the need for his project.
The block of flats, whose roof housed
the receiver for his wireless CODFM
transmission of cameras to his control
room, was knocked down: “There was
nothing we could do about it.” The
flats, though a problem site in terms
of crime, had been a natural high
DECEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY
point in the borough to site the kit;
Peter needed to find a new site. But
there was nothing in the area like it.
Peter’s eyes turned - as do anyone’s
in the area - to the North Stack, the
chimney of the power station on the
trading estate. It’s the highest point
in Berkshire, and the next highest
point heading into London is the
Shard. What better place for Peter’s
aerials? “And so the project was born.
However if only I had known the kind
of problems that was going to bring.”
An estate director suggested that Peter
had no chance of getting permission;
not from any ill-will of people, but
for practical reasons. Local police
were keen, as such works would aid
their resilient communications. The
Stack emits plumes of clean air; but
it rarely closes, as those data centres
it serves need powering 24-hours. As
the chimney has a routine shut-down
for three days each six months, the
project would have to be delivered
then. A new digital manager at the
council had an idea of a boroughwide
WAN, a mesh network. But the
cost, compared with Peter’s budget,
was far too great: “Clearly we had
champagne tastes and beer money. We
needed to rethink.” Peter had to look
for alternative sites. The power station
asked Peter; why didn’t he build his
own mast? A landfill site was not ideal
- on contaminated land, near a housing
estate, it would need consultation with
residents and planning permission.
Finding the owners, then negotiating
with them for a (minimal) ground
rent, was not straightforward. But
Peter did gain planning consent. And
so to building. A brick workshop
building was on site, that could
house material; a reinforced security
door was fitted. Still required was
extensive soil sampling; the works
could not penetrate the (thin) top-soil.
The borough paid for a survey; the
report did not say whether or not the
mast should be allowed; the council
got an opinion on the report and a
go-ahead. Work started in February
2017. In came a tonne and a half of
steel reinforcing; and 50 tonnes of
high grade concrete; and lighting
protection. The base for the mast was
levelled, and provided a slope for
run-off of water. The 30m triangular
tower came flat-packed by truck. “The
funny thing is,” Peter said, “every
time I look at it, I am convinced
it’s not straight.” But his camera
transmissions are back-hauled, with
kit provided by Thames Valley Police;
and shared via a VLAN. That police
were partnering helped because police
made a case to the Home Office who
gave access to a specialist frequency,
so the transmission did not suffer from
congestion.
And another
Professional Security asked Peter
afterwards; was it worth it? “God,
yes,” he replied. “We delivered it
under budget. And hugely successful.”
In fact he’s having another, 12m mast
to connect back to the 30m one. As he
added, councils are being forced to do
this sort of project - go wireless that
is - not only on cost grounds compared
to renting fibre, but providers may be
ceasing provision, giving councils no
other option. Apart from the ground
rent, ‘it’s cost free’, and Peter hasn’t
been to the site in three months; it’s
remotely monitored (as they couldn’t
resist putting a camera on it) and has
a network management system from
SolarWinds. p
www.professionalsecurity.co.uk
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