Councillors in Tenby have agreed to continue to fund CCTV provision for the resort.

Members of the town council had taken the decision when finalising their last budget to remove CCTV funding from their allowance, at a time when there was uncertainty surrounding the provision for the police force. The town council had been paying £2,255 annually for the fibre linkage costs towards four CCTV cameras in the resort.

Members agreed to look at the decision again recently, after meeting with Pembrokeshire County Council’s head of environment and civil contingencies, Richard Brown, and the town’s police inspector Dan Bower and Sergeant Geraint Lewis, to discuss the matter, with all parties agreeing that it would be detrimental to the town if any CCTV provision was reduced.

Councillors agreed to go back on their decision, and the town clerk explained that as the provision was not budgeted for, the funds would have to be met by reserves for the next financial year.

“I think we understand why we took the decision in the first place, as there was a bit of a squeeze and we were trying to save money, but the police gave a pretty compelling case and convinced me that the CCTV is used properly and for the good of the town, so this is one of those cases where we need to unmake a decision,” Clr. Dr. Peter Easy told his colleagues.

Clr. Mike Evans agreed that he was very impressed by the the officers they met, and they gave a good justification of the town council’s expenditure.

“We were previously worried that the CCTV system was not being utilised, so we should write to these officers’ superiors to tell them what a good job they have done in supporting us and let them know why we changed our minds, as they pointed out it was for the good of the town,” he remarked.