COUNCILLORS are in dispute over the potential of security cameras to be installed across Ulverston.

Ulverston Town Council is poised to submit a bid for a series of CCTV cameras to be fitted within the town.

However, the plans have been met with both trepidation and support among the council body.

Cllr Mark Wilson said the cameras will offer a 'level of protection' for concerned residents.

"Residents may feel safer with such an aid to fighting crime being available," he said.

"I think the cameras will be a useful deterrent against criminals committing crimes on our streets.

"It's a way of catching people in the act and ensuring our town is better protected."

The security cameras are projected to cost £6,000 per unit, of which the Police and Crime Commissioner Office may fund 50 per cent.

Cllr Wilson said this is 'a small price to pay' for better protection.

However, the initiative has been met with some concern among Ulverston councillors.

Cllr Colin Pickthall described the installation of security cameras as an 'invasion of privacy.'

He said: "I don't like the idea of cameras on our streets.

"It hasn't been proved often enough that crime levels are reduced due to CCTV - the evidence is ambiguous.

"Lots of criminals know how to disguise themselves to avoid being caught by cameras."

Cllr Pickthall said he felt 'uncomfortable' at the idea of town surveillance.

"Surveillance makes a lot of us feel quite uneasy," he said.

"The cameras are quite costly too which I don't think we will see the returns on.

"People think it will make residents feel more comfortable, however, I think it makes a lot more of us feel uneasy.

"The whole project is impractical to me."

Plans to install security cameras in Ulverston have been in discussion since May.

If the bid is successful, cameras will be installed on Market Square, above the Kings Arms Hotel on King's Street and above Helen Gee Hairdressing on Market Street.