MORE than 86 per cent of people have given their backing to CCTV in Ilkley after taking part in an online survey.

A total of 455 people in the town responded to the survey over the month it was open with by far the largest number giving their support.

In September Councillor Anne Hawkesworth called for the installation of security cameras following vandal attacks on cars parked in the town's main car park on Friday evening.

She received backing from Ilkley's early intervention and prevention officer with West Yorkshire Police PC Sam Hollings. He launched a survey to see if CCTV would be welcomed by local people.

Bradford Council is now preparing a feasibility study.

Bradford Council ward officer Sue Gledhill told a meeting of Ilkley Parish Council the reason the town did not already have CCTV was, to some extent, the cost. But she said there were more cost effective options now which would not have been possible a number of years ago.

"For a number of reasons now is a good time to look at it again," she said.

"It is moving along - not at speed, but in terms of logistics we have set that process in motion," she added.

Cllr Hawkesworth (Ind, Ilkley) said she had had a positive meeting about the installation of CCTV in Ilkley with council officers and it was agreed the main value of them would be to act as a deterrent.

"They can now use microwaves which means little cost in installation," she said. "Cameras are much smaller and reduced cost - now only about £1.5k per camera. Ilkley would have little impact financially on central monitoring."

She added: "Trees can be a problem for where installation would be effective. The officer has gone away to do survey of where and how (cameras can be installed) asked for the park to be included."

She said funding could come from unspent section 106 money and via the parish council who would eventually receive some funds from the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Chairwoman of Ilkley Business Forum Helen Rhodes, owner of Poppy Red, said the forum had discussed the idea of CCTV for the town in general terms and were in favour.

She said: "My personal views are that it is a good idea and businesses and residents alike will benefit from added security. Much of the crime has so far been relatively small scale but I think CCTV would be a deterrent as well as helping to identify the culprits when issues arise. Some work needs to be done to determine where cameras should be placed, rather than just go for the obvious locations. In this day and age, I think most people would expect a town centre to be covered by CCTV."