BIG Brother is finally on its way to Princes Risborough after months of discussion between council leaders and complaints from residents.

Cllr John Coombs, chairman of Princes Risborough Town Council, has revealed he is expecting money from Buckinghamshire County Council for a mobile CCTV unit this week.

Funding for the unit has already been provided from district and town council officials, and the councillor said Risborough would have CCTV in a month to six weeks time.

The news will come as a relief for residents such as Steve and Jacqui Chittenden, who live near Horns Lane car park, and complained in last week's Free Press about noise and vandalism caused by youths there.

Cllr Coombs said: "CCTV is something I believe in and hopefully it will allow us to see who is causing trouble in places such as Horns Lane.

"We have entered into a partnership with the local fire service and they have allowed us to put up a camera on the station which would allow us to monitor the car park."

Cllr Coombs added that the nature of the CCTV unit would allow the council to move it around the town to areas of concern.

There was some bad news for residents however as Cllr Coombs told the Free Press that district officials will say no to proposals for locking gates on the Horns Lane car park. Locking gates were proposed in the last town council meeting as the best solution to stop youths gathering.

Cllr Coombs added: "We have missed out on an opportunity to cut out this problem all together. However, the problem would probably have moved from Horns Lane to another part of the town.

We have put a sign up in the car park asking people not to wheel spin and rev engines but the sign was defaced."

January 20, 2003 09:30