Decision details

Doncaster Council operates a number of overt CCTV cameras across the borough and these are used to view and monitor activity in public spaces. The cameras are located in numerous locations – for example, on buildings, in pedestrianised areas and on the highways.

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) define personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject), CCTV footage of an identifiable data subject is personal data.
Under Schedule 2, Part 1, Paragraph 5 (3) of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), information is exempt from GDPR if it is required to be disclosed by law or in connection with legal proceedings.

Insurance companies or legal representatives often approach the Council to request CCTV footage of road traffic incidents in order to determine liability in legal proceedings.
In 2018/19 149 requests for CCTV were received, in 2019/20 we received 188, in 2020/21 we received 94, and to date this financial year we have received 64. Lockdown drastically reduced the traffic on the roads over this and last financial year. Not all of these requests result in footage being sent as the incident may not have been captured, the footage is not clear or the incident occurred more than 30 days ago.

The work is undertaken by the information governance team and the CCTV team in Community Safety and the income of approximately £6000 would be split between these areas.
The processing of these requests is time consuming and provides no benefit to the Council. Many requests are for footage of very minor incidents which we feel could be resolved without the CCTV images. A benchmarking exercise has taken place with other Local Authorities who charge applicants for the release of the footage, and charges range from £10 up to £210.

Doncaster Council currently provides this information free of charge. The suggested charges are based on the time council staff spend on dealing with requests.

Option 1
Implement charges for CCTV requests:-
- search only for CCTV footage - £50
- search and supply of CCTV footage – search fee £50 plus £50 per camera to supply footage

This would mean that the costs of reviewing and / or providing the footage would be met. This is the recommended option.

Option 2
Continue to comply with these requests with no charge. Complying with the requests incurs costs to the organisation and no benefit.

Option 3
Refuse to comply with the requests. The exemptions in the DPA are discretionary but the Council has historically provided this information to assist members of the public and commercial organisations.

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The implementation of charging insurance companies and legal representatives for the provision of CCTV footage for insurance claims or legal proceedings.

Option 2
Continue to comply with these requests with no charge. Complying with the requests incurs costs to the organisation and no benefit.

Option 3
Refuse to comply with the requests. The exemptions in the DPA are discretionary but the Council has historically provided this information to assist members of the public and commercial organisations.