CCTV

CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras help to prevent anti-social behaviour and crime.

We realise that CCTV in public areas may cause worry. A national Code of Practice is used to make sure footage is only collected and kept as it should be. The recordings are kept secure and private.

We work with the police to make sure we make good use of CCTV footage. Meetings take place where we talk about the best ways to use it.

CCTV in Barnsley is used for the following:

  • To work with the police to improve community safety.
  • To reduce the fear of crime by helping the police to prevent and detect crime.
  • To help identify, arrest and prosecute criminals.
  • To help police collect information about things that may have been filmed and respond to them.
  • To give us information to help us take action using our licensing powers.
  • To monitor the flow of traffic on the road network, traffic signal timings, surveys for transportation and future scheme planning.
  • To monitor major events and incidents for public safety, staff protection, security and insurance purposes.

We'll make sure we meet the standard needed to obey the acts of parliament. These regulate the capture, storage and release of CCTV footage. They are the:

Where matters are the subject of criminal investigations, we'll provide evidence. This will be done using the procedures within the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1996 (PACE).

Requesting access to CCTV footage

CCTV footage can only be released under certain circumstances. How you can request access to footage can vary depending on these.

We can’t always release CCTV footage. Members of the public are also not permitted to view CCTV footage unless it relates to them personally. An example of this could be where you're identified within the footage.

Car collisions or incidents

Members of the public will not receive or are permitted to view CCTV footage of car collisions or incidents. If you've been involved in an incident, we advise you of the following:

  • For car collisions or incidents without police involvement or a crime number
    Please contact your insurance company or solicitor to request the CCTV footage. Insurance companies or solicitors can complete our online form to request the footage.
    Request CCTV footage
  • For car collisions or incidents with a police crime number, or to report an incident or crime
    Please contact the police. They have a process for requesting CCTV footage in relation to these matters. You shouldn't contact us directly - we'll refer you to the police.

CCTV footage captured by traffic cameras is only retained for a period of five days. After this time it's overwritten due to storage capacity.

Incidents of crime

CCTV footage will not be released to the public if it relates to incidents that are under investigation by the police. This also applies if the incident is being looked at by other law enforcement agencies.

Footage can be requested by the police or other law enforcement agency when they're investigating incidents. In the case of civil law, insurance companies and solicitors can also request footage when they're investigating. This may be for an insurance claim or other incident where the allegation needs to be verified.

There's a time limit for the retention of CCTV footage captured before it's overwritten, due to storage capacity. This will vary depending on the purpose of the camera and its location. Some CCTV footage may only be retained for a period of three days. In any event the retention will not exceed 30 days before the footage is overwritten.

Please note: a refusal to review footage of this type can occur without providing a reason why.

Parking tickets, fixed penalty notices or lost property

Parking tickets or penalty charge notices need to be addressed directly with the organisation who has issued this. CCTV footage cannot be released to resolve these types of disputes.

CCTV footage of other people

CCTV footage of other people will not be released as this is third party information. It's personal to the person, so cannot be disclosed.

CCTV subject access requests

You can make a request for any personal information you believe we may hold about you. We call this a subject access request and we'd process this in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

Visit our personal information requests page to find out how to do this.

If your subject access request relates to CCTV footage, only the images held that include you may be released. 

CCTV Freedom of Information Act requests

You can make a request for any information we may hold under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000. An FOI request isn't about personal information held. It could be for example, about 'how many CCTV cameras are there in Barnsley?'. 

Visit our non-personal information requests page to find out how to make an FOI request.

We won't release CCTV footage under an FOI request where:

  • third parties could be identified
  • incidents are under police or criminal investigation
  • footage may lead to distress to the persons involved in an incident

To find out more about your rights to request information visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website.