The problem
The footpath that runs through our land, past our football pitch, is regularly being used by bikers. Biking on public footpaths can be alarming to legitimate users and muddies up the ground making it difficult for pedestrians.
Bikers are also using the footpath to access the football pitch, causing damage which threatens the viability of the pitch and may mean that we cannot continue to host youth football at our centre.
It is unlawful to access public footpaths with cycles or motorcycles
Only pedestrians and people with disabilities using mobility aids are allowed to access public footpaths.
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Causing damage to the football pitch is criminal damage
The football pitch and surrounding land is not public. It is leased by the North Mymms Youth and Community Centre. The Trustees, who are responsible for the lease, allow the use of the land by pedestrians but specifically ban the use of motorised vehicles unless written permission is given.
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CCTV is now in operation
CCTV has been implemented to assist the police and local authority in identifying and taking action against those responsible. The police will prosecute identified offenders and may also impound the vehicles concerned. The local authority can take action against persons who are unlawfully using cycles or motor vehicles on the footpaths.
We regret the need to implement CCTV, but we are taking steps to minimse the intrusion on the privacy oc legitimate users of the footpath and the football pitch.
Your privacy
We are aware that the use of CCTV can unfortunately result in a loss of privacy for people whose activities are entirely lawful. We are trying to minimise this. Only the Trustees of the centre have access to video taken by our cameras. We are only looking for evidence of unlawful behaviour and delete images captured on our CCTV that do not suggest this.
We do not publish identifiable information or footage showing those involved in criminal activity. We supply this footage only to the relevant statutory agencies and we delete it when their investigation is complete. If any images of uninvolved members of the public are incidentally captured in footage suggesting anti-social activity, we crop out these images before submitting footage to the council.
Our data privacy statement gives more information about how we handle data, including CCTV footage, that may identify individuals.
We have undertaken a Data Privacy Impact Assessment in relation to our use of CCTV, which was approved by the public at our AGM.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
We welcome comments from any person with an interest or concern about these or any other matters of relevance to the Centre and will be happy to discuss any concerns or suggestions.