Camera outside flat must come down, says council

A council committee has ordered a woman to take down the CCTV camera outside her Perth property following complaints from neighbours.

The council’s local review body heard the woman was unhappy her retrospective application to install the device outside her ground floor flat in St Leonard’s Bank had been refused while there were at least four other cameras operating nearby.

The committee, which deals with appeals, heard the woman had fitted the equipment partly in response to “ongoing court proceedings” but was told they should not take that into account.

The woman’s initial application prompted six objections during a public consultation.

One had said: “The CCTV system with audio facility is an invasion of all the residents’ privacy as the camera is directed outwards and away from her flat.

“There are five other properties which this affects. The camera is positioned in such a way that nearly all the communal grounds are captured by the system, which constitutes an intrusion into the privacy of all residents.”

Another said: “I consider this to be a gross invasion of my privacy and I strongly object. I am unable to have a private conversation in the grounds of my own home.”

A council planning advisors said the woman claimed there were four cameras fitted outside another flat in the same block.

“These are identified as not having been subject of an application for planning permission and have not been the subject of enforcement action by the council,” he told the committee.

“The ongoing and unchallenged presence of these cameras is seen as inconsistent with the decision to refuse planning permission for one CCTV camera.”

But Councillor Lewis Simpson said: “I have no reason to depart from the reasons for refusal.

“I feel the scope, range and field of vision of this particular CCTV camera results in an infringement of privacy and I am happy with the reason for refusal.”

Councillors Bob Brawn and Ian James both agreed so the appeal was refused.