A review of funding towards public CCTV in Tenby is to be considered by local councillors after the facility was noted as an integral element to assisting the well-being and safety of the community by local police officers.

Members of Tenby Town Council met with Pembrokeshire County Council’s head of environment and civil contingencies Richard Brown ahead of their meeting on Tuesday night, along with the town’s police inspector Dan Bower and Sergeant Geraint Lewis, to discuss CCTV provision in the resort.

Mr. Brown explained to councillors the benefits of the CCTV system in Tenby where there are currently eight cameras provided monitoring public spaces.

He said that the county council had always contributed to the running costs of the system, mainly for the maintenance, whilst the town council’s funding contribution had covered line rental for four of the cameras, but the CCTV was essentially operated by Dyfed-Powys Police.

Mr. Brown said that a statement released by Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner, Christopher Salmon last year, where he spoke of plans to reduce live monitoring of CCTV systems in the force area, had been misinterpreted.

“There are huge community benefits for a town like Tenby, night time and daytime, from CCTV provision. We’re all beneficiaries as residents, visitors and businesses, and personally I feel that it would be detriment to the town if we were to lose this valuable system,” remarked Mr. Brown.

Inspector Bower told councillors that CCTV was an integral part of crime prevention, especially in a resort like Tenby where there was an influx of visitors during the summer and holiday periods.

He said that it also helped officers to identify and trace individuals concerning road traffic collisions, criminal damage cases, missing persons etc.

“We have found CCTV to be an invaluable tool at times, especially when providing evidence, as a picture paints a thousand words,” said Inspector Bower.

Sergeant Lewis also told councillors that CCTV was utilised greatly by police during various events held in Tenby, such as Ironman Wales and the firemen’s carnival.

Town clerk Andrew Davies told councillors that they had taken the decision when finalising the last budget to remove CCTV funding from their allowance, with the uncertainty surrounding the provision for the police force. He said that the town council had been paying £2,255 annually for the fibre linkage costs towards four CCTV cameras in the resort.

“We had to prune all our budgeting at the time, but we do know the value placed on CCTV in the town,” commented Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter.

Deputy Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, said that now the town council had received ‘new information’ from PCC and the local police officers they could put CCTV funding provision back on the agenda and look at re-evaluating their decision.