Market Drayton's £10,000 windfall to improve CCTV in town centre

Market Drayton Town Council had applied for £10,000 in grant funding from West Mercia's Police and Crime Commissioner to support its work to improve CCTV coverage in the town centre, to deter criminals and help shoppers feel safer.

Now the council has learned its bid succeeded, it will continue with its plans to improve the camera coverage of the town centre.

Mayor Roy Aldcroft said the money from commissioner John Campion's office will pave the way for the installation and replacement of high quality cameras along "the main shopping thoroughfares" in Cheshire Street and the High Street.

He continued: "Hopefully this will reduce visits from undesirable characters, reduce crime and provide a safer environment for visitors and shoppers."

He said that it will form the second phase of the town council's plan to improve camera coverage in the town, following the installation of new cameras on the Towers Lawn car park.

The new cameras at Towers Lawn, one of which is capable of automatic number plate recognition, were planned for months because residents of nearby Smithfield Road complained of being tormented by anti-social, noisy driving in the car parks late at night.

Slated

In January of this year, three charity shops in Cheshire Street were all hit by burglars in one night.

The Sue Ryder Care shop, Barnardo's branch and Oxfam outlet were all struck and it cost each charity hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

Two men were arrested in connection with the burglaries.

Later in January, the town's CCTV cameras were slated as "not fit for purpose" by a woman who had £350 taken from her purse by thieves in December.

She complained to a meeting of the town council that the footage from cameras which captured the incident was too blurred for any realistic prospect of prosecution.

Following that meeting in January, councillors including Mike Smith, who has technical experience, set out to improve the coverage of the town centre.