Bridgnorth CCTV overhaul urged as images branded too poor for appeal use

Pam Becke said volunteers using the system were struggling to identify people during late-night brawls.

Mrs Becke said Bridgnorth was experiencing a rise in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents because more people were visiting as the nights grew longer.

She claimed there had been five "serious" incidents in the past two months but due to the poor images captured by the cameraspolice had been unable to use them for appeals.

In a report to the CCTV committee on Monday, she said: "There has been no improvement in the condition of the cameras since the last meeting in January.

"The two cameras in Low Town do not have a good enough picture quality and the static cameras are losing a lot of evidence.

"During February and March there were five serious incidents but the pictures were not good for the police to use.

"We are still seeing shop lifting and anti-social behaviour problems, which are getting worse on Friday and Saturday nights in the High Street. We do have a good police presence when they are called in but the cameras are deteriorating."

Mrs Becke said she was looking forward to a better system being installed in the near future to protect businesses and residentsespecially when police and PCSO resources were stretched.

Inspector Andy Thomas said there would be a small rise in crime as the days got longer and more visitors came to the town.

He said: "We have proposed new cameras and suspect they will help us with our operational needs.

"There will also be flexibility about how cameras are used in the future.

"We had an issue with some of the software but we have got over that now."

Mrs Becke had said during January's committee meeting it was important the line of sight of any newly installed camera's was not blocked.

She said putting up Christmas lights and satellite dishes without consultation could cause problems because they interfered with the CCTV system.