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Cllr Rosemary Parsons next to the CCTV camera in Bank Street car park

A HIGHBRIDGE county councillor has hit out at the monitoring of CCTV in the town after unruly behaviour by yobs went unpunished.

Cllr Rosemary Parsons told the Mercury she saw youths in Bank Street car park climbing on top of recycling bins, grabbing glass bottles out of the bank and lobbing them across the parking bay.

CCTV cameras mounted at Bank Street appeared to capture the hour-long episode - but Cllr Parsons was shocked to find nobody then stepped in to stop the incident.

She told the Weekly News: "I saw about six children aged about 12 plus and they were running all over the waste tips and taking bottles and smashing them and they were able to do it right under the cameras.

"They also appeared to be trying to set fire to the paper bank."

After no action was taken the councillor demanded to know if the CCTV cameras were working properly, stressing that people in the town needed to feel reassured.

Barry Donbavand, CCTV manager for Sedgemoor District Council, told the Weekly News: "We have no reports of an incident on that evening, but the cameras were working.

"We have around 160 cameras and we could have been busy with another job in Bridgwater, Taunton, Yeovil, Wellington or Burnham.

"It was a Friday night, which is always busy and it is sometimes not possible to act on everything."

Police also confirmed they were unaware of the incident.

But Cllr Parsons responded by questioning the role of CCTV cameras.

She said: "If they didn't pick up this incident then I don't think the cameras are doing their job properly.

"There have been many questions about CCTV operation and I'm surprised they are monitoring such a large area, which is bound to put extra duties on them."

5:19pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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