Seaside town plans further hike in CCTV cameras

More CCTV cameras have been pledged across a seaside town following an upgrade to its surveillance system.

A new £2m control centre opened in Blackpool in March last year which also saw the number of cameras jump from 92 to more than 300.

The centre has better technology to zoom in on locations while about 100 cameras are fitted with speaker systems to enable public announcements.

Blackpool Council has said it would now add more cameras as funding becomes available.

John Blackledge, director of environmental services, said council members "will be able to request where there should be more cameras".

"These requests will be looked at by the public protection team and the police and we will have a priority list.

"We won't be able to pay for them all, but when we have the funding we will do it."

Mr Blackledge told a council meeting the centre was well manned "at certain times such as Friday and Saturday nights when it is most needed".

Councillors were also told all emergency services have been based in the incident management centre during major events such as the Fireworks Championships and Blackpool Air Show.

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