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More CCTV cameras for Ashton

5/ 3/2002

THE number of CCTV cameras in Ashton is set to almost double by the summer.

Six are to be installed in the Union Street and Old Cross Street car parks and one at the Market Hall near the taxi rank over the next four weeks.

The move follows council won funding from the Home Office, with each camera costing £12,000.

A further three are planned elsewhere in the summer.

The high-speed colour cameras - ten operate at present - can pan 360 degrees in less than a second, point up and down and zoom in quickly for close-ups.

A spokesman for the council's community safety unit said the control room in the Wellington Road council offices is staffed by experienced operators 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"The message to troublemakers is you can't hide - we will be able to spot you," he said.

The two car parks will also be provided with help points - a push-button intercom system - for the public in emergencies.

These will be connected to the control room, which is also linked by radio to the police, around 70 town centre stores and 16 pubs and clubs in the Nite-Net scheme.

Three more cameras are planned for Gas Street, Stamford Street and close to subway near the Asda store.

But it is likely to be summer before these are operational, pending negotiations with private firms over contributions to the cost and work to be done by British Telecom.

The spokesman added that analogue recording facilities were recently replaced by a digital system following an upgrade to the control room. This improves the quality of reproduced images and allows far more to be stored.

It also makes it possible in future to install a database supplied by police which would automatically alert CCTV operators to known criminals, missing persons and stolen vehicles.