A CCTV system via fibre optics has resulted in a turn around of fortunes for the oldest and largest business park in the UK
Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, is the oldest business park in the UK and was opened by King George VI in 1936. At two miles long and one mile wide it is also the largest.

But by the mid-90s a rising crime rate was deterring businesses looking to locate and in 1996 the Valley Watch scheme was set up to combat crime through CCTV. Telewest Business, chosen to supply the network, was faced with a logistical nightmare - policing a 750-acre site with 700 businesses, 18,000 people and 12,000 vehicles.

Said Roger Brunning, the scheme's General Manager: "The sheer size of the area meant that a private security force was not possible because manpower costs were prohibitive. Our local police force simply didn't have the resources to cope with round the clock surveillance. The most efficient, cost effective solution had to be CCTV and an organised security watch scheme. We became, if you like, a very effective business version of Neighbourhood Watch"

The network structure provided by Telewest was like an octopus configuration … "the head located at our monitoring centre and tentacles of fibre fanning out into the estate".

A smooth roll out meant the service was ordered in January and was up and running by the beginning of May, even though one of the fibre links was 3.5 kilometres long! The estate is arranged in an American grid layout with straight roads and intersections.

Cameras were placed on junctions of key roads and in the five exits and entrances.

The fibre itself was "robust…first class", providing crystal clear images, said Brunning. Unlike traditional copper transmission, Telewest's optical fibre gave better picture quality with no need to amplify the signal.

Today's footage compared to '96
"CCTV pictures work at 62 decibels. With copper the quality of reception is reduced to 36-38 decibels and as the signal is amplified the picture quality is affected further. Valley Watch has an infallible way of testing how well a video signal is transmitted. We have original footage taken in 1996 and can compare it to today's picture quality. There has been no degradation of quality. It is exactly the same".

High image quality is essential in the fight against theft in the large retail area. Shoplifters often make it unhindered out of the shop and believe that they are 'home and clear' but this is not the case. Sharp images enable the surveillance team to see which car the culprits get into and allow a police follow-up.

In the months after installation, general crime was down 79 per cent and burglaries down by 84 per cent. Over the last six years crime rates have remained low and this has led to a boost in commercial confidence.

Said Brunning: "Where there was once empty lots, the estate is now full to capacity, in fact a new development is taking place to cope with demand".

The Valley Watch 24-hour monitoring team deciphers patterns that emerge and they have developed an innate understanding of human behaviour, aiming to stop would-be felons before a crime takes place. A highly-visible mobile unit, in constant contact with the control centre, provides rapid response to incidents spotted by the camera operators. Valley Watch provides additional services such as key holding, alarm monitoring and response, lone worker escort, crime prevention advice and remote monitoring. It reduces vandalism, lowers insurance premiums and attracts new businesses to the area.

Because the estate is now full to capacity, the north end of the Valley is being developed to include a 100-bed hotel and seven-storey office block and Valley Watch will be looking to Telewest to provide the additional network for cameras. * * www.telewest.co.uk/business