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The council’s CCTV operators logged 425 incidents of begging in Stratford-upon-Avon in the year to March 2026, up from 177 the year before, according to the district council’s annual evaluation of its CCTV scheme. The report goes to the council’s Audit and Standards Committee on Monday 9 November.
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Other street problems were also up in the town. Operators logged 163 incidents involving rough sleeping (70 the year before), 162 of street drinking (143), 119 assaults (92) and 41 sexual offences (9). Thefts fell, from 394 to 315. These are incidents the camera operators logged and followed up, not crimes recorded by the police; for those, see our Stratford crime figures.
Fewer incidents overall, and 130 arrests
Across the district, operators logged 5,322 incidents in 2025/26, down 18.3% on the year before, and carried out 7,815 patrols with the cameras. Police made 130 arrests after the CCTV team spotted or followed an incident, 113 of them in Stratford, with five in Shipston-on-Stour, four in Henley-in-Arden, three in Bidford-on-Avon, two each in Southam and Studley and one in Alcester. The report says the real figure is higher, because arrests made later from footage aren’t counted. Police asked to view footage 215 times and took 141 copies as evidence.
143 cameras, and some barely used
The council runs 143 cameras: 82 in Stratford town, 18 at Bell Court, and others in Shipston (8), Southam (7), Studley (6), Alcester (6), Meon Vale (5, since June 2025), Bidford (4), Wellesbourne (4), Henley (2) and Earlswood (1). Six Stratford car parks are covered, including Windsor Street, Arden Street, Bridgefoot and Riverside.
The busiest camera was the one on Wood Street, put up in March 2025, used 3,107 times in the year, followed by Bridge Street (2,134) and Rother Market (1,713). At the other end, 29 cameras were used less than half as often as the average, which the report calls “at risk”. They include several of the movable cameras added in April 2025 on Clopton Road, Drayton Avenue and Baker Avenue, each used fewer than 80 times. The independent consultant who wrote the report says that doesn’t mean they should be switched off, but that each camera should be reviewed formally, with consultation and costs, before any decision.
A live link to the police
The control room is staffed 24 hours a day and sends live pictures to the Warwickshire Police control room. It also has radio links to shops and pubs, the council’s enforcement officers, the town’s BID Rangers (since July 2025) and the Street Pastors. An independent audit on 4 June 2026 found no faults, and the scheme has now held the British Standard for public CCTV control rooms (BS 7958) for 19 years in a row. There were no complaints about the system during the year.
The cameras have helped catch drivers too: see how the CCTV team helped catch 68 dangerous drivers.
Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
