By Rob Gooding, Community Organiser
Woodsetts Neighbourhood Watch started pre covid, due to spate of burglaries in the area, during covid a lot of the elderly residents became anxious about leaving their homes made worse by the fact burglaries were happening in the daytime. The village asked what crime prevention measures could be implemented.
The group decided that it was time for them to act, after consulting with members and other residents of the area the group decided that they wanted CCTV cameras in the area to deter the burglars from the village and make residents feel safe again.
The group have had several meetings with RBMC’s (Rotherham Council’s) CCTV team and Neighbourhoods officers and identified locations where cameras would be most effective in capturing images of these crimes happening as well as being a deterrent for other issues in the area like offroad bikes. The decision was made that a network of nine cameras was needed to cover the area at a substantial cost for the group. Not deterred by this the group started planning how they could bring the community together and raise the funds needed to make their project happen.
The group decided the best way to raise money was a crowd funding page that local residents could donate to, this has been a massive success in the five weeks it has been active, the group have been working closely with all the community groups in the area as well parish councillors of Woodsetts to advertise the page bringing the community together with a common goal, the group didn’t want to stop there and also decided to put a collection box in the local post office and have a stall on a local event where they held a tombola and other fairground games to raise extra funds.
In the first five weeks of fundraising the group have almost raised half of the funds needed to have the system installed, showing what a community can achieve when they come together with a common interest.