CCTV coverage of streets in Oxford

Mike Magee made this Freedom of Information request to Oxford City Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Mike Magee
Delivered

Dear Oxford City Council,

I recently asked Oxford City Council to investigate why my refuse hadn't been picked up and received a reply from Robert Brown, in charge of waste and recycling at the council.

That letter enclosed a screen shot of CCTV coverage of my front garden and Mr Brown explained all your refuse vehicles have on board cameras. The CCTV takes pictures of peoples' front gardens.

Can you tell me:

1. Which Act of Parliament authorises the Council to film peoples' houses?
2. How long is this footage kept?
3. Are your employees aware they're being filmed?
4. Is this information shared with other authorities or other departments internally and externally?

Yours faithfully,

Mike Magee

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Oxford City Council

Good afternoon

 

Thank you for your email below. Your request was received on 14^th October
2014 and you will receive a response within 20 working days, as required
under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Celia Robinson

Interim PA

 

On behalf of Mike Newman

Corporate Secretariat Manager

Oxford City Council

St.Aldate’s Chambers, 109-113, St.Aldate’s

OXFORD

OX1 1DS

 

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Oxford City Council

Dear Mr Magee

 

Further to the acknowledgement below, I can reply to your FOI request
received on 14^th October 2014.  I apologize for the delay.

 

1.    There is no specific legislation preventing the CCTV recording of
private property taken from public places (in this case the public
highway). The system is operated in accordance with all the requirements
and the principles of the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Data Protection
Act 1998.

2.    The footage is stored on a hard drive in the vehicle and the image
storage time does fluctuate, but is generally around 8 weeks.

3.    Yes. Staff are fully aware that they are being filmed. A full
consultation with the Unions was undertaken before the cameras were
installed on our vehicles.

4.    No. The system is operated in accordance with all the requirements
and the principles of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Data Protection
Act 1998 and therefore, has the potential for images to be released, on
request, to the police and/or other agencies.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Michael Newman

 

Corporate Secretariat Manager

Oxford City Council

St Aldate’s Chambers

109-113 St Aldate’s

Oxford OX1 1DS

 

 

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