New Market Drayton CCTV cameras to cost £30,000
More than £30,000 will be used to increase the number of CCTV cameras in a Shropshire town to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
Market Drayton Town Council has agreed to look into installing further cameras in the town after the success of others being put up in the area.
Julie Jones, clerk to the town council, said: "We have a new control centre which can support up to 40 CCTV cameras – at the moment we only have 12 in the town.
"There is nearly £34K left in ear marked reserves.
"We need to look at the town centre and the skate park to decide where the additional cameras will go.
"It may be that we split the cameras between the town and skate park, it will depend on the cost and it we can get WiFi down at the skate park."
The town council previously bid for £17,383 to the police and crime commissioner for West Mercia for new CCTV cameras.
The bid is part of £280,000 from Shropshire Community Safety Partnership.
However the PCC said they need time to analyse all CCTV in the area and will make a decision on the bids in the autumn after a full review.
In the meantime the town council said they will look into using their reserves to buy some more cameras.
Councillor Steve Glover said he was keen to get the town's new skate park covered by CCTV.
It comes after public toilets by the skate park were vandalised after a gang of youths used their bikes to ride up the walls and doors.
Last year extensive graffiti was found in the men’s toilets.
Councillor Mark Whittle, deputy mayor, said: "We have been waiting years to get more CCTV cameras and now we have the new system we need to get this moving.
"We need to prioritise the skate park area."
Mrs Jones said she would get the costs for new CCTV cameras and come back to councillors.
In June last year new control equipment costing about £20,000 and four new CCTV cameras had been installed. This was followed by eight more new cameras later that year.
Phase one saw new cameras installed around the town hall and library area.
Before the upgrade there were nine cameras in the town but councillors hope to increase that number to about 30.
The new control room is big enough to support 40 cameras and the town council has also pledged about £40,000 in total towards the scheme.
