Councillors agreed to purchase a new re-deployable CCTV camera through a contract with Cheshire East Council and prioritise its initial use at the Community Garden in Lawton Street, as this is an area of concern.

Congleton Town Council has received numerous requests for CCTV use in Congleton. The anti-social behaviour working group has been aware of the issue and investigated the benefits of a permanent (around £10,000) or re-deployable camera.

Requests for CCTV coverage outside of the areas currently covered by the town's monitored CCTV includes the Community Gardens, West Street, Mill Green, Silk Mills, Waggs Street, Little Street, Victoria Street and the Market Area.

Speaking at Thursday's Congleton Town Council, Jackie MacArthur, deputy chief officer, told the committee that she had spoken with the CCTV manager at Cheshire East Council where Congleton's cameras are monitored 24/7 by the borough at a centre located in Macclesfield.

Mrs MacArthur said: "He [CCTV manager] is now much happier with the standard of the re-deployable cameras, there used to be a bit of a problem with the speed of the scanning and movement of the cameras.

"Cheshire East are about to enter into an open contract with the supplier, I've been told the absolute maximum would be £5,000, but it will probably be closer to £4,000. Another good thing is if we want to go down the route of a re-deployable camera, which is what I am recommending, Cheshire East will not charge us the £1,800 we pay for having cameras monitored.

"They have said each town can have up to two re-deployable cameras where Cheshire East will actually pick up the costs, they will also pick up the costs of the monitoring and movement of the cameras, although if it becomes that every two weeks we are asking for it to go somewhere different then there maybe a minimal charge of £25 towards the expenses."

Mrs MacArthur told the committee that if councillors wanted to go down this route, the town council's first focus would be the Community Gardens, on Lawton Street, which will also cover the War Memorial area, which has already been discussed with Cheshire Police.

Although the permanent CCTV camera on Lawton Street captures the paved area at the front of the garden, it does not adequately cover the gardens. Other businesses have CCTV which does cover the gardens, but it cannot be proactively checked to advise Police of occurrences as they are happening.

The town council would request where they would like the camera situated, the CCTV manager would then have to do all the legal works and approve the site.

Mrs MacArthur added: "I think it's definitely the best way forward for us to have a re-deployable one and then if hotspots move we can let the camera move to cover areas that are more in need of CCTV coverage."

Cllr Denis Murphy, who supported the proposal, said: "As a member of the local night time economy, I'm very aware that coverage by CCTV is a tremendous asset to our local police operations because they can be advised of groupings.

"CCTV operatives in Macclesfield focus in on groups and if there is an incident in a particular area and someone is identified or described, they can then get very close facial recognition patterns and it's suitable for criminal prosecution and support of criminal cases.

"I think it's very important that we have as much of this CCTV coverage in town that we can have."

Cllr George Hayes, who was also supportive of the initiative, said: "It promotes people feeling safe and coming back to reengage in that night-time economy in a number of ways."

Cllr Hayes queried whether the town council had enquired with the Police and Crime Commissioners Office to ask if there was any grant/match funding available to offset any other cost to the town council. David McGifford, chief officer of the town council, told the committee that they would be enquiring.

Cllr Kay Wesley, chair of the anti-social behaviour working group, felt a mobile unit was a "perfect solution" and reassured councillors that this wasn't a "privacy invasion" issue.

Cllr Wesley added: "The way the CCTV is used at the central operating centre, they have a high level view of the various different areas that they are monitoring and if they get a call from a member of the public saying there is an active crime, then they can actually zoom in on the people committing that crime and direct officers straight to that spot.

"We have seen from other towns that when CCTV isn't deployed crime rates go up and I think the opportunity of a mobile unit, which adds an element of unpredictability, so those people with an intent will not necessarily know exactly where the CCTV might be, clearly you have to have notices when monitoring is being done, but the opportunity for groups to move from place to place to avoid CCTV will be reduced if we have a mobile unit.

"I do think a mobile unit is a better option at the moment for the town and we do have the funding in our crime prevention budget, so I would like to propose we go ahead with this motion."

Cllr Suzy Firkin sought clarity on who was driving the requests and recommendations to implement a CCTV camera, was it the "police, businesses or residents".

Cllr Wesley responded: "All of the above, the police are very much in support of having these mobile units, we have had residents and businesses both requesting more coverage and the police are in full support of that to help them do their job."

Cheshire Police currently report to the anti-social behaviour working group where the current difficulties are, and the working group discusses CCTV coverage.

There has been a temporary camera previously installed in the Tesco roundabout area, on Barn Road. Cllr Wesley added: "This is an ongoing initiative. The police report to us at each meeting what CCTV has picked up in the last period and it has been very effective in preventing crime happening in those areas."

If there is a new request for the camera to be redeployed to a different location, Mrs MacArthur stated that it would take two weeks for it to be installed, due to notices having to be put out and people in the new area having to be informed.

A re-deployable camera would be reviewed every eight weeks, but if the town council thought there was a better place to locate it or if the working group was getting information from the police that they would like it to be moved, Mrs MacArthur felt the town council needed to be "flexible".

Congleton Town Council would own the camera, but Cheshire East would have the legal powers to place it.

Mrs MacArthur stated that the CCTV centre has an agreement with Cheshire East Highways and the re-deployable cameras are located on lampposts and the electric from the lamppost is used, but Wi-Fi is required within the area.

Cllr Paul Duffy said: "I have major civil liberty issues with another camera. The UK has 20% of the worlds cameras in CCTV watching our citizens. I think the answer is not more CCTV, I think we have got plenty of CCTV cameras in this country and I wont be supporting money spent on another one, I think it would be money better spent on saving the town centre."

Cllr David Brown said: "I'm totally in support of this and I think it's the way forward. If you look nationally at new places opening either underpasses, monuments or anything else, vandalism and abuse normally happens within the first two weeks of opening.

"My special request is when we approve this that we actually locate near the Cenotaph when it is opened, so we can keep an eye, it's just until the novelty wears off."

Cllr Hayes highlighted that there is a Safer Communities Fund, where trading and business groups could be applying for up to £1,000, which "could then start offsetting some of those costs from the council".

Cllr Hayes added: "I do absolutely support the proposal in front of us, I think it's also worth trying to offset costs from this council and its taxpayers wherever possible."

Cllrs Robert Helmsley and James Smith wanted Cheshire East to provide a contract before the town council purchased the cameras.

The proposal to approve payment of up to £5,000 from the Ear Marked Capital Reserves for crime prevention to purchase a re-deployable CCTV camera via Cheshire East's CCTV department was passed.