Belmore Park is a central part of Goulburn and includes a war memorial, seating, a rotunda, gardens and other facilities. Photo: John Thistleton.
A CCTV refresh in a popular Goulburn park will cost at least $26,000, an investigation has found.
In late 2025, Goulburn Mulwaree Council (GMC) agreed to investigate CCTV upgrades in Belmore Park, as well as potential locations for additional cameras.
But new information has revealed it will cost either $26,208 or $49,264 to replace the eight existing cameras, depending on the option chosen.
The former would cover the cost of installing a newer version of the existing cameras with 4K video quality, while the higher fee would cover cameras with 4K to 8K video quality.
Adding extra cameras would cost at least $46,776.
Councillor Caitlin Flint hit out at the “outdated and almost unusable” system in Belmore Park, alleging its quality was impacting police prosecutions.
She said businesses around Market Street had told her of incidents, while incidents around Belmore Park at night were making people feel unsafe.
“I want it to be put on notice that just because there’s only been one CCTV footage request [from NSW Police] in 2025 doesn’t mean there aren’t incidents that are happening in that precinct,” Cr Flint said.
“It doesn’t mean that we don’t have a real crime problem in that area.”
According to the council papers, both options will involve an upgrade to the town’s video storage system, with this amounting to $12,000 from the overall estimates.
The cost estimates also do not include other elements of an upgrade, such as contractor costs.
But there’s currently no room in the council’s 2026/27 Operational Plan for the upgrades to go ahead.
“While grant opportunities continue to be explored, any further CCTV upgrades and/or installation of additional cameras would need to be funded by council and delivered within existing budgetary constraints,” the papers state.
“NSW Police have advised that they are unable to contribute funding, and there are currently no interagency partnerships available to support funding or delivery of this type of program.”
Local chamber of commerce president Josh Matthews has backed the push.
He said Business 2580 had heard businesses were keen for an expanded CCTV system within their town, particularly as the council pushes to expand Goulburn’s night-time economy.
“Unfortunately, crime is not slowing down – it’s not going anywhere,” he said.
“If we’re going to curb it, we need to assist the limited number of police who are on duty to do their job.”
Councillor Daniel Strickland pointed to discussions with NSW Police representatives, who said they had identified no “high-risk crime areas” within Belmore Park.
He said the council still had concerns.
“Their reports didn’t support or back up what council was told … I encourage people, if people are saying that things like that are happening there, to report it – because then that helps us have this conversation,” Cr Strickland said.
Mr Matthews said GMC should commit to the CCTV upgrades, describing it as key for residents’ and businesses’ sense of “safety and security”.
“Prevention is better than cure, in this sort of circumstance. I understand there are priorities that the council has with spending money,” he said.
“It will happen when it happens, but it should not be thrown on the back burner as a nice-to-have. It should be considered a necessity.”
A separate report into how environmental design can prevent crime will also be completed and presented to councillors at a future date.
Council papers state that the Montague Street side of Belmore Park will see the installation of five new cameras in 2026/27, under a separate successful grant program.
