TRADERS in Monmouth claim the town needs for the CCTV system in the town to be activated to help in the fight against crime.

Denise Jones, who owns the Hair and Beauty Salon in Monnow Street, has seen her business repeatedly hit by vandals and thieves.

"We have had four burglaries in the last year, including three in December" she told The Beacon.

Large quantities of retail products have been stolen. Various measures, including spending £3,000 on making the the rear of the premises secure, have been taken.

A quote of £2,000 has been obtained to put grids in the front of the premises, which Denise is reluctant to do.

"The majority of people in the town think the CCTV cameras are working, others want to know why the Town Council has opted out of the agreement regarding the cameras" she added.

Chris Norman, CCTV Development Officer said "We would welcome Monmouth back into the CCTV scheme so that they can enjoy the benefits of our developments and the dynamic new future programme for the scheme."

The original membership of the CCTV scheme included the four main towns of Monmouthshire.

Monmouth Town Council formally withdrew from the scheme in February 2008; the town councillor stated that they were looking at alternatives for town centre security.

Monmouth Town Council have set up a working party Chaired' by Counc Nick Hackett Pain to establish their needs in respect of CCTV.

 In September, 2007, Monmouthshire CCTV scheme undertook a fundamental review of its operation to establish whether it represented value for money and was fit for purpose.

Falling out of that review was the implementation of a clear strategy and action plan that would set out a development programme for the scheme over the forthcoming three years.