A senior police officer has questioned the need for proposed CCTV in Harleston town centre to tackle anti-social behaviour problems.

Members of Redenhall with Harleston Town Council are looking at putting cameras in the Budgens supermarket car park in Bullock Fair Close.

But Gavin Money, police inspector for South Norfolk, told councillors on Wednesday that the council should look at a different approach and that CCTV was 'not justified'. He added that crime levels in the town were 'very low'.

'I'm not one for putting a case for spending money where we can resolve the issues in other ways. The investment has to be proportionate to the problem.'

'I do not feel the Budgens car park is the centre of crime. There is probably a perception about the youngsters at Budgens car park and for the vast majority it is somewhere to meet. CCTV is only going to push them somewhere else. The key is to engage with them because if they are engaged in a project and take ownership, we are more likely to have buy-in from them,' he said.

Insp Money said he was coordinating a project looking at the crime rates in South Norfolk over the last three years to identify anti-social behaviour hotspots in the district to see whether CCTV was needed in the district's market towns. The survey is due for completion in the New Year.