CCTV plans for town centre gather pace
FIVE CCTV cameras are proposed to be installed in Shepshed town centre at a cost of almost £28,000.
A Shepshed Town Team sub committee has proposed that the majority of money left over from a Charnwood Borough Council grant be used to fund video surveillance.
The Echo reported in May that the Shepshed Town Team had secured £35,000 as the borough council had agreed to roll forward the remainder of a two-year Shop Front Grant to be used to improve shop fronts or to be used to fund projects being explored by sub committees.
Now one sub committee has proposed £27,893 of the left over grant money be spent on five CCTV cameras in the town centre (with the price including around the clock monitoring).
Shepshed Town Council clerk Brenda Snape and Coun Joan Tassell, who make up the task and finish group, have been looking into the possibility of funding CCTV in the town centre since January.
And, based on their research and discussions with relevant persons, it is proposed that: two cameras be installed in the Bull Ring - one on a lamppost outside the dentist and one outside the Notting- ham Building Society - one be fitted at the Co-op in Hall Croft and two be mounted on a dedicated post in Market Place.
Shepshed Town councillors agreed at a meeting last week to pay the £1,865 needed each year for the service and upkeep of the proposed cameras should they be approved.
Shepshed Town Team secretary Anne Collier told the Echo another party may partially fund the CCTV which will allow the remaining grant money to go further.
She said the next step is for the sub committee to present a proposal to the Town Team and, if approved, the idea will be put to the borough council.
Coun Tassell told the Echo a decision is expected to be made by the end of the year.
Residents, particularly business owners, are invited to attend Town Team meetings to share their views.
A meeting is to take place tonight (Wednesday, July 19).