MP and councillors join condemnation of Cotham School’s covert surveillance

An MP says that he is “genuinely at a loss” as to why a school has installed covert surveillance at their playing fields which has likely been recording unaware members of the public.

Bristol North West MP Darren Jones has written to Cotham School headteacher Jo Butler “strongly advising” her to turn off the secret cameras.

A pair of tiny CCTV cameras are hidden within a metal junction box close to an entrance to Stoke Lodge playing fields, land leased to Cotham School by Bristol City Council and which since 2019 has been surrounded by a six-foot metal fence.

Jones has also asked the government’s information commissioner and CCTV commissioner to look into the matter and report back to him, as well as asking the local police & crime commissioner what advice Avon & Somerset Constabulary have given the school in regards to the covert surveillance.

Writing to Butler, Stoke Bishop ward councillors John Goulandris and Henry Michallat also ask the school to turn off the hidden cameras if she is unable to confirm that all regulatory and statutory requirements and processes have been observed during their installation and usage.

In his letter, Jones said that he appreciates that the school “wished to prevent criminal activity from taking place on the site, activity which I clearly do not condone, but this should be done in a legal way”.

He wrote: “I understand that Cotham School installed covert cameras in a concealed manner on the site without any public notice and proceeded to secretly film my constituents.

“The installation of covert cameras in this way is clearly a breach of your data protection law obligations and may be more seriously a breach of other legislation relating to surveillance and the use of CCTV cameras.

“I’m genuinely at a loss to understand why Cotham School thought this an appropriate thing to do, not least given that you are currently requesting planning permission from Bristol City Council for more traditional CCTV.”

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Read more: A day with Bristol North West MP Darren Jones

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Jones added: “Constituents will understandably feel very strongly about having been monitored in this way and I trust that you will engage with them in good faith in answering their questions, requests for data and any complaints or legal processes that might follow.

“I really am very sorry that I am having to engage with you in this way once again. I’d much rather support you in the important service you’re tasked with delivering – educating our children.”

Two covert cameras are hidden within this junction box – photo: Martin Booth

In a joint letter, Conservative Party councillors Goulandris and Michallat told Butler that they have been “inundated with emails and telephone calls from anxious residents, who are, understandably, very concerned at being filmed without their consent and without notice of the covert CCTV”.

They said: “We would welcome your written assurance that all the regulatory and statutory requirements / processes have been observed.

“If you cannot provide this assurance, please confirm that the CCTV cameras will be switched off with immediate effect.

“Your press release states that Avon & Somerset Police have offered specific advice. Given the public interest, we would welcome sight if the relevant correspondence.

“We appreciate that the unlawful traveller encampment in the summer caused considerable damage. Has the CCTV coverage been helpful in ensuring any prosecutions or convictions?

“Presumably, you will now be withdrawing your 2020 planning application 20/01826/F for overt CCTV surveillance.

“We look forward to hearing from you very shortly.”

Signs around Stoke Lodge inform that CCTV is operation but it is the covert nature of these cameras that has angered local residents – photo: Martin Booth

Cotham School’s planning application from April 2020 is to install a CCTV pole and camera next to the gate behind Stoke Lodge Adult Learning Centre, which shares the site with the school.

Bristol24/7 has asked Cotham School if they have received professional advice from lawyers that the covert cameras installed at Stoke Lodge are legal in regards to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, or if the cameras were installed solely on the advice of Avon & Somerset police.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Cotham School said that they were advised by the police “to consider the use of covert CCTV monitoring to try and catch the perpetrators” of criminal damage to their property.

Bristol24/7 has also asked Avon & Somerset police exactly what advice they gave the school, which is believed to have come from its neighbourhood team.

Main photo & video: Martin Booth

Read next:

• School admits carrying out covert CCTV surveillance of public
• MP and serving officers join condemnation of unlawful police raid
• Maya Jama takes a trip down memory lane at Cotham School
• Parents protest ‘derogatory treatment’ of pupils at school gates

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