WORCESTER MP Michael Foster has challenged the city council to save its CCTV network now that it might no longer be subsidising pensioners’ free bus travel.

As previously reported in your Worcester News, the Government is in consultations to see if it is possible to give the council an extra £130,000 to plug a funding gap in the travel scheme.

It means that the city council should break even on the scheme next year, unlike the last two years when it has been underfunded by a total of about £300,000 and has had to make up the difference.

Although it does not mean the council will profit from the conecessionary travel scheme – as some other district councils have – Mr Foster said the authority should now find the cash – £140,000 – to have the city’s CCTV cameras manned for another year.

The Labour MP said: “From April onwards the city council will be £130,000 better off than it thought it was going to be.

“What I’m saying is I have delivered my side of the bargain in getting Government to cough up cash, so Worcester City Council you have a duty to save our CCTV. There are no excuses now you have got the money.”

We previously reported how former Chief Superintendent Rod Reynolds said he feared a “seismic” increase in violent crime in Worcester if funding for the £140,000 a year service was cut.

Currently, staff at the control centre based in Worcester police headquarters in Castle Street, spend 20 hours a day watching the 65-strong camera network.

They also keep in constant touch with officers, store security guards and pub staff.

But with Worcester City Council needing to make £4.5 million savings over the next five years and a belief that West Mercia Police should fund CCTV, that service is under threat.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, leader of the city council, said an announcement about the future of Worcester’s CCTV network would be made in the next few weeks.

He said: “Personally I value CCTV. If it is possible to have monitored CCTV, or a level of monitoring, that is something I think we would all like to see. There is no lack of committment, far from it, but there are issues about the balance of funding and what the city council should be paying and what other partners should be paying.”