COUNCILLORS have come under fire for not pursuing a £1.25 million scheme for spy cameras in Wyre Forest.

Wyre Forest MP David Lock is aghast the council has, unlike neighbouring authorities, failed to take up the CCTV project which attracts Government funding nationally of £153 million.

And Kidderminster Police chief Ron Whitfield reiterated the spy cameras would have acted as both a deterrent to crime and an aid to detection in Bewdley, Stourport and Kidderminster town centres.

Mr Lock warned the area would become a magnet for criminals after councillors dubbed the scheme "premature".

And he poured scorn on the authority's suggestion its bid had been scuppered by a Government decision to set a December deadline for bids.

Mr Lock said: "The council has had two years to sort this out. Redditch, Worcester and Bromsgrove all have CCTV yet Wyre Forest has failed to do so.

"I understand there have been problems but it is the council's job to solve these.

"CCTV would have been of enormous benefit to the district in cutting crime."

A council committee decided it could not meet the running costs of the scheme, which was originally mooted at about £300,000 until members identified ways of bringing down the cost to just over £100,000 a year in August.

A plea for support from district businesses had amounted to the measly sum of £500.

And members were reluctant to install cameras in car parks such as Market Street and Pitts Lane, Kidderminster, which were set for demolition.

Council leader Mike Oborski said: "A further complication is the council will still not know exactly where it stands financially in terms of both the aftermath of the transfer of housing stock and Government plans for local government spending for three to four weeks."

Mr Oborski stressed the authority still supported "the principle" of CCTV and would review its position "if and when" the Government announced any future bidding rounds.

The councillors' recommendation will go before the policy and implementation committee tonight.