THE Island’s CCTV control room will no longer be monitored from tomorrow (Friday).

In a bid to cut £40 million from the highways PFI budget, all five monitoring jobs at Island Road’s Newport headquarters have been axed.

A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council said: “One hundred CCTV cameras will continue to operate in the same locations and the CCTV footage will still be available to the police on request for evidence purposes.

“Discussions are on-going with police to agree a revised protocol.”

Scrapping CCTV monitoring will make the Isle of Wight’s streets less safe and put vulnerable people at risk, Unison has warned.

Unison branch secretary Mark Chiverton said he had spoken to CCTV control room staff, the majority of whom were union members.

He previously said: “Given the reduction in police numbers, there is a real concern this will make the Island less safe. It’s inevitable.”

Almost 700 people have signed a petition calling on the council to reverse the decision.

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