Hadleigh councillors have voted to back a bid by Babergh to apply for funding of nearly £200,000 to install new CCTV in the town.

Frank Minns, the towns mayor, brought the motion to full council proposing members support Babergh's bid for £183,000, from the Community Infrastructure Fund, which would also be used for a CCTV system in Sudbury.

'Normally Babergh pays 75%, or £75,000, depending which is less, of the capital cost of CCTV, but the district council is keen to move the project on and have the new camera operating as soon as possible.

"The new cameras will be monitored professionally and remotely by a by a system in Bury, that already does this work.

"There is also provision for certain number of police run mobile cameras, which will be included in this scheme.

Currently the plan is for Hadleigh to have seven cameras in place, with 17 in Sudbury, with a number of individual mobile cameras for the police, and the new system would be fully digital and using the latest technology.

"There is no reason why we could not have more if we asked, and the money could be found from the CIL money."

A project group will be set up by Babergh, working with the police and representatives from Hadleigh and Sudbury, and the plan is for the cameras to be fully installed by April.

Hadleigh would be responsible for the running costs, which have yet to be finalised. A second motion to agree those costs was deferred until full details were known. Although the CCTV will not be installed in the town unless Hadleigh commits to the annual running costs once known.