TEIGNMOUTH Town Council is to spend up to £3,000 on immediately upgrading two of the town centre CCTV cameras, and will also consider a long-term upgrade.

The cameras were installed 11 years ago and, in a report to the finance and general purposes committee on Tuesday, Cllr Fred Vella said urgent short-term improvements were needed, especially with Christmas looming.

Two of the cameras were temperamental and needed replacing or repairing. In the longer term, other improvements would be needed.

Cllr Terry Falcao said the whole CCTV policy needed reviewing. The existing volunteers who manned the system did a ‘fantastic’ job, but needed more help. A lot of things needed to be improved.

Cllr Vella assured him that ‘everything was in hand’.

Cllr Richard Younger-Ross claimed that a recent major assault had not been recorded because two cameras were not working, and Cllr Sylvia Russell added that they had been pointing in the direction of the alleged attack.

The council’s website is also being upgraded and a short list of possible suppliers was drawn up.

It had been narrowed down to a choice of two, and it was agreed they should be asked to meet the ‘website task and finish group’ to decide which one to select.