Leaves on the CCTV lens let yobs run riot

LEAVES are blocking a town’s CCTV cameras – which means anti-social behaviour cannot be tackled, a council has claimed.

Councillors in Wrexham, North Wales, said they were struggling to crack down on troublemakers and homelessness.

Local authority officials said the warmer weather had led to an increase in leaves on the trees, which had blocked many security cameras in the town.

Brian Hancox, 52, a local businessman, said: “I’ve heard of trains being delayed because of leaves on the line, but leaves on the lens is a new one on me.

“Who do the council think we are? It’s an insult to our intelligence to blame the lack of action on the homeless crisis on leaves. Surely the people putting the cameras up in the first place would have noticed a tree in the way. It beggars belief.” Sandy Solomon, a 30-yearold mother of two, said: “Basically the council has said that the town centre is only monitored by CCTV in the winter – when the bad weather means most people don’t go out anyway.

“It’s just bonkers for them to say that CCTV cameras are useless when the leaves are out – what a waste of public money.”

At a public meeting, Marc Jones, a councillor, said: “I’m trying to do something with the CCTV that’s already there, but the problem we’ve got at the moment is a very practical one – the trees are obscuring the view so we’re not able to monitor anti-social behaviour in the way we’d like to.

“Myself and others are trying to push for improved housing for the homeless, to basically try to get them off the streets as quickly as possible, because it’s causing mayhem for them and everyone else.”