A HUGE upgrade of Cirencester’s CCTV is underway and expected to be completed by the end of the year.

A Cherry picker has been visiting cameras in the town to remove older systems and replace them with new, higher quality cameras.

The first part of the new system will cover more of the Town Centre and the Abbey Grounds, extending out as far as Phoenix Way, the Leisure Centre and Beeches Car Park with phase two covering parts of Kingshill Lane by the end of November.

Upgrades are costing the town around £60,000 but are estimated to provide a £15,000 per year saving due to a wireless system replacing cables, which are expensive to maintain.

These new cameras will allow greater resolution and the ability to watch live and recorded streams from remote locations.

The cameras will also be linked to a 24/7 fault monitoring system to make sure that any faults are corrected as soon as possible.

One of the additional features the council is considering is buying tablets to view live and recorded images from the camera for those on the move, including police.

Cirencester’s Mayor Joe Harris was a victim of crime in the town several years ago and believes that CCTV would have helped identify the culprit.

He said: “It’s been a while in the making, but back in 2011 we decided we decided we wanted to improve the CCTV system in the town and I’m proud of the Town Council for doing it.

“I hope that we can use these savings to increase monitoring hours as safety is really important.”