STATIC closed circuit television surveillance in Malvern could be ditched in favour of state-of-the-art mobile units to be used across the whole of the Malvern Hills district.

Community safety experts believe other crime and anti- social behaviour prevention measures together with the use of mobile CCTV systems are more effective and cheaper to run than the current static cameras in the town centre.

Malvern Hills District Council executive committee, which meets on Tuesday, is being recommended to invest £30,000 to buy mobile CCTV units for use at hot spots across the whole district and cease using the current static CCTV system, which requires upgrading and costs £70,000 a year to run.

In a report to the committee, head of community and economic development Lee Robson says that according to official crime figures Malvern Hills District is the fifth safest area in the UK.

This is partly due to its work with police and other agencies such as housing associations to tackle hot spots of anti-social and criminal behaviour, policies allowing it to create alcohol-free zones, issue Asbos and dispersal notices, and because the district has the largest network of Neighbourhood Watch schemes in the county.

“Recent trends show that although there has been a year by year decrease in urban crime around our town centres, there has been a rise in rural incidences of crime of metal and fuel theft encouraged by the high price of these commodities and the relative ease of procurement and a lack of deterrence or detection capability,” says Mr Robson.

“Although our streets, towns and villages are some of the safest in the country, there is still a need to be vigilant and to be able to respond more flexibly and rapidly to situations that emerge in different places, sometimes for short periods of time.

“This capacity is hampered by our over reliance on a static CCTV system that has become increasingly obsolete, costly and incapable of deterring or detecting any crime from that in and around Malvern.”

The cameras in the town are mainly used to search for school children who are late home or have absconded from school and are rarely used to detect crime and even more rarely used in successful prosecutions, he says.

The switch to new mobile technology is expected to save £85,000 a year.