MORE CCTV cameras are to be installed in Ipswich in a bid to curb vandalism and anti-social behaviour.Two more mobile cameras are set to be installed in the Lavender Hill shops area and around Bramford Road and Adair Road.

MORE CCTV cameras are to be installed in Ipswich in a bid to curb vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Two more mobile cameras are set to be installed in the Lavender Hill shops area and around Bramford Road and Adair Road.

Three covert CCTV cameras are also on order, which should arrive in the next couple of months and will be moved around the town's parks and open spaces.

Whitton Residents' Association is keen for a covert camera to be placed at Whitton recreation ground.

Chairwoman Judith Bourne said: “There have been so many incidents. The new play equipment has been set alight twice. We had planted bulbs and somebody pulled the heads of the daffodils.”

Bramford Road resident Brian Ward, 71, welcomed the prospect of a CCTV camera in his road.

He said: “It would be a good idea to keep an eye on what happens outside Tesco in Bramford Road, which seems to be a gathering spot for young people. There have also been problems at the former Churchill's pub in Bramford Road.”

There are already six mobile cameras capturing images from anti-social behaviour hotspots in the town.

They are in Queen's Way, Reynolds Road, Austin Street, Freehold Road, Cox Lane and Woodbridge Road East, although this one is set to be moved to the Dickens Road shops area.

The mobile cameras, which cost around £10,000 each, have been funded by money from the Home Office, from county council locality budgets and from the borough council's liveability programme.

The covert CCTV cameras, which cost around £5,000 each, have been funded by the liveability programme, which has seen about £3 million in government money help make Ipswich cleaner, greener and safer.

In addition, there are already about 80 fixed CCTV cameras sending back images from in and around the town centre.

Jim Manning, head of community safety for Ipswich Borough Council, said: “They have been able to pick up a vast amount of criminal activity in the town centre and act as a deterrent as well.

“They have also been able to track road traffic accidents and people who have collapsed.

“We are picking up 100-odd incidents every month, leading to 25 to 30 arrests.”

Do you think having more CCTV cameras is a good idea? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk