A six-camera CCTV system could be in line for Melksham after the town council agreed to dedicate cash to the project.

The town currently has three cameras, one covering Market Place, but there are no operators to monitor the footage.

Melksham Town Council, which is working closely with police, has agreed to ringfence £3,000 to fund discussions with Global MSC Security, of Bristol, who drew up plans for the CCTV system in Trowbridge.

Although the plans are in their early stages, there are plans to operate six cameras in the town and possibly link the footage up to existing control rooms in Warminster or Trowbridge, where it can be monitored.

A CCTV working group has been set up by the town council, consisting of three town councillors.

Cllr Vic Oakman, who is one of the three working group members, said it was likely the council would apply for grants to fund the CCTV system, as costs would run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He said: “The Government grants that come up now and then for things such as CCTV are more likely to be available if a town does have a certain amount of crime and if the police are behind the initiative.

“Melksham police are behind this and PC Kevin Harmsworth has been talking with other town’s such as Calne, to arrange for us to learn more about how they operate their current systems.”

At the moment the existing camera in Market Place can only span 180 degrees.

Cllr Oakman, who took a walk around the town with Derek Maltby of Global MSC Security, said this situation was not ideal.

“With things like that, when the camera is turning one way, it doesn’t pick up things going on in other areas of the Market Place,” he said.

“This could possibly be improved by having one camera that moves and another that is static in the area.”

A second camera is located at the Lowbourne junction with High Street/Bank Street and a third has been moved from the Tourist Information Centre in Church Street and is due to repositioned.

PC Harmsworth, of Melksham police, said: “I have received information from the town clerk that the town council has agreed to involve a consultant and start to move things forward.

“Sergeant Mel Rolph and I intend to meet as often as possible with the CCTV working group to help the process as much as we can.”

He said if a new CCTV system was approved, it could work alongside other projects such as the Shop Watch radio scheme, which links town shops and the police by radio.