The troubled Woodgrange Estate is to get CCTV after residents voted overwhelmingly to pay for its upkeep.

Estuary Housing Association, which owns the 600 homes on the estate where 27-year-old Barry Redsull died in November, has secured funding to install seven cameras.

However, it is asking tenants to pay an extra £1.07 a week on their service charge to pay for their long-term upkeep and maintenance.

It sent a questionnaire out to residents in December to gauge their views and of the 315 people who replied, 268 agreed to pay the extra - around 85 per cent.

Estuary spokesman Fiona Bailey said: "We received 315 replies, the best ever response we have had from a postal survey and around three times the normal number of replies.

"We are pleased with the number who responded and feel this demonstrates the level of support among residents for the CCTV scheme.

"We are meeting this week with the residents' association, the CCTV company and Southend Council to finalise the camera positions and begin arranging the work."

One tenant, however, said it was an outrage that residents were being asked to pay more on top of their £8 weekly charge, because CCTV was so badly needed.

The cameras will be linked up to Southend Council's state-of-the-art 24-hour monitoring system based at a secret location in the town.

Published Wednesday, January 8, 2003

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