THERE are more than 200 CCTV cameras keeping an eye on coming and goings at schools in one part of Gwent.

Across four secondary schools and 31 primary schools in Monmouthshire there are 223 CCTV cameras.

They make up just under half of the 472 cameras owned by Monmouthshire County Council.

Across council sites there are 92 external cameras and 102 internal ones covering inside council buildings.

The authority also has 48 public space CCTV cameras in four towns, Abergavenny, Chepstow, Caldicot and Monmouth, and seven “deployable cameras” that can be moved to different locations.

It is unclear if the number of cameras has increased since 2023 however as a Freedom of Information request found that the council only held partial records which stated there were 149 held by it corporately, a figure that now stands at the 194 internal and external cameras on council sites, but it was noted it wasn’t a complete count.

The cameras are managed either by the council directly or by the Shared Resource Service (SRS) technology provision collaboration for a number of public bodies in Gwent.

A Monmouthshire County Council meeting was told in June 2023 that it monitors some 60 cameras on behalf of the councils with a 24 hour rota, with one person on shift from 5pm to 8am and at weekends, with a team leader also working during the day.

Councillors were told cameras are set to focus and zoom on “specific activity that is highlighted to the operator” with operators also undertaking tasks such as tracking people for Gwent Police.

Torfaen Borough Council is also a part of the SRS collaboration and it has 120 owned or operated CCTV cameras but its figures do not include those at schools.

The council hasn’t increased the number of CCTV cameras it owns or operates this year.