EALING Conservatives are opposing moves to cull the much hated CCTV vans used to fine unsuspecting motorists in the borough.
Last month, the Labour group which runs Ealing Council announced they would be selling off their fleet of 10 CCTV vans and 13.5 agency staff working in the control room would not have their contracts renewed in a bid to make savings of £435,000.
But, as part of an upgrade of the security monitoring system, including re-locatable roadside cameras, the Council pledged to invest £1.25million and now the Conservatives have 'called-in' the decision, citing concerns over the 'value for money' aspect of this move.
A Conservative Party spokeswoman said: "The shadow Cabinet decided to call in the report, as it had a number of questions around the financing of the project and the implementation of fixed and re-locatable roadside cameras.
"Conservative members would like to be satisfied that in the current financial climate, Labour’s proposed investment of £1.2 million will lead to improved community safety, rather than just another means of achieving income maximisation from motorists, which it views as public
enemy number one."
Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Cabinet member for Transport said: "It is incredible that during a time of unprecedented austerity, the Tories are championing the retention of these unpopular CCTV vans.
"To make things worse they are opposing an investment that would help tackle crime and provide a substantial saving to the council year-on-year. Ealing’s Tories introduced the first million pound money making CCTV camera and they should come out with the truth of where they really stand on these issues."
The report was due to be considered at last night's (Thursday's) Overview and Scrutiny committee meeting.
