AMBLESIDE could soon be getting its own CCTV cameras in a bid to catch and deter criminals operating in the Lake District.

In early 2014, a scheme to install 53 cameras across the county - including seven in Kendal - was approved by Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes.

But this week Mr Rhodes revealed a number of other town councils, including Ambleside and Dalton, as well as Appleby's Parochial Church Council, had approached him with a view to expanding the system to 80 cameras in total.

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"I have asked the constabulary to look at these places and come back to me with a report of feasibility and cost," he said. "Police are not entitled to put cameras anywhere they want, we have to make a case based on whether the area would benefit from it. The area must have a degree of sufficient criminality to justify the cameras

"Obvious advantages of cameras are keeping an eye on public order, retailers in Kendal in particular have said to me how pleased they are because of shop-lifting. In my job as a magistrate I have found CCTV footage to be extremely useful in producing evidence."

Michael Johnson, clerk of Lakes Parish Council, which covers Ambleside, said the council had set aside cash in next year's budget and hoped cameras could be placed at the top of Compston Road and on the A591 at Waterhead.

"The council was talking to our local PCSO and she was telling us how valuable cameras could be given the limitation on front-line policing and the way the force is having to re-invent themselves," he said. "If you have got a high-quality camera pointing down Compston Road it could be a great advantage to support police and deter shoplifters because everybody has to use the A591.

"Why should the major towns have it when there's a lot of rural crime in the Lakes also?"

Appleby Mayor Andy Connell said he hoped CCTV cameras would be installed close to St Lawrence's Church, on Boroughgate, following recent spates of vandalism including a youth urinating inside the building, prayer boards being defaced, spitting competitions and curtains being pulled down.

Cameras in Carlisle, Barrow and Workington will be in place by February 12 while Penrith, Whitehaven and Kendal will get theirs by March 31.