A DECISION regarding an extra CCTV camera in Oswaldtwistle to deter vandals has been put on hold due to a lack of funding.

Oswaldtwistle Area Council met at the civic theatre to discuss the possibility of installing an additional camera at the top end of Oswaldtwistle after a recent spate of criminal damage.

Two weekends ago at least five windows of business premises in Union Road were put through.

But Coun Brian Walmsley, chairman of the meeting, said the cost for a new camera had been estimated at almost £20,000.

He said: "This is something impossible for the area council to fund on its own.

"It would cost £20,000 and we have only £6,000 left for this year and we don't know what we will get next year because the budget has not been set."

Coun Walmsley said the matter would be looked into further before the next Oswaldtwistle Area Council meeting on March 27 when the budget will have been announced.

One option would be to do the same as Baxenden Area Council which opted to spend its whole grant on a camera and forego any other expenditure for the year. Another would be for businesses to install their own CCTV cameras in their windows to watch the streets.

One businessman, Jonathan Swinn, who runs Buy The House estate agents, has had his windows put through four times in two years.

He said: "£20,000 is quite a low amount when you look at the cost of the damage over all.

"We need to see if we can raise £10,000 and maybe look at match funding. There must be some way of getting the money and putting a proposal forward."

Inspector Phil Cottam, of Accrington police, said there had been 13 incidents of criminal damage to business premises at the top end of Oswaldtwistle in the last two months.

He said: "I am very disappointed by this particular area of crime which is wanton unnecessary vandalism against people's property. It is not acceptable.

"Over the past three weeks we have made three arrests in Oswaldtwistle in connection with the offences.

"And over the past two weekends we have been trying our best to have officers in the areas where problems have been occurring and around the licensed premises we think the people committing the offences have been coming out of.

"I am concerned about the problems traders have on Union Road and our work will continue."