HEREFORDSHIRE Council looks set to spend more than £1.75 million on a new CCTV contract covering the county's CCTV cameras.

Currently, there are CCTV cameras covering Hereford city and the market towns of Ledbury, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye.

Cabinet member for housing, regulatory services and community Coun Ange Tyler has agreed to spend £1,784,859 on a new contract covering that camera system, as well as security staff at the Maylord Shopping Centre, for three years.

Had this decision not been taken, there were fears there could be a rise in crime, the council said.

The decision was made on Monday (August 22) but it is subject to call-in until tomorrow (Friday, August 26). That means councillors can raise complaints about the decision-making.

It was decided, after an open tendering process which saw companies bid for the contract, to go with Enigma CCTV Ltd.

There is also the option to extend it for a further two years.

Other options were considered by the council, including doing nothing.

But it was felt that when the current contract ends on August 31, without proactively monitored public space CCTV for Herefordshire and the shopping centre, there could be an increase in undetected crime and antisocial behaviour.

The council could have also not awarded the contract after the tender process.

But the report said this option was not recommended as it could lead to a legal challenge and result in reputation damage to the council.

Fresh Government funding, announced earlier this year, also means Hereford is set to get 40 new CCTV cameras in areas identified by women and girls identified in a survey as being places they felt nervous