POLICE will be allowed to see Welshpool Town Council’s CCTV footage as councillors voted against the proposals that would have stopped them seeing the footage.

At a stormy meeting on Wednesday night, (March 28) councillors voted nine against and six for recommendations that included asking Police to pay £25 to look at CCTV, £ 75 for a copy of footage and return the keys to the town hall.

Many councillors believed the motion went too far, but others believed that Dyfed-Powys Police were bullying the council to force co-operation.

The row stems of a meeting at the end of February with Dyfed Powys Police Crime Commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn.

He met Welshpool Town Councillors and explained his £2million CCTV strategy for 14 towns across the force area.

Later this year, it is expected that CCTV will be switched on in 14 towns in Dyfed-Powys, with Newtown and Builth Wells in the vanguard.

Town clerk, Robert Robinson, told councillors that he had spoken to Chief Inspector Matt Scrase who was asking the Council to reconsider the motion.

Mr Robinson said: "I was talked at rather than having a discussion and asked to please reconsider, as it’s not very helpful.

"I did express the concern that we’d been taken from the top of the pile to the bottom."

Mr Robinson on said that he was told that the CCTV scheme was further along that had been said publicly before with phase one of the Dyfed-Powys Police Commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn’s scheme, to go live this summer, sooner than expected.

Mayor, Cllr Stephen Kaye and Cllr Phil Pritchard, argued strongly in favour of the motion.

Cllr Pritchard, said: "There’s no guarantees on the table, I don’t believe a word of it until these’s something on the table

"They should pay for what they get.

"I’m not getting at the police officers, it’s the organisation at the top, they are no better than it was 19 months ago or five years ago when the last commissioner came here.

"When you make decisions you stand by them."

He had hoped that becoming part of the Commissioners CCTV scheme would mean that Welshpool's own CCTV cameras could be placed in other areas, such as housing estates.

Councillor Stephen Kaye, Mayor of Welshpool Town Council, said: "We are not taking the CCTV off the police. We are not stopping them from using it, but they need to pay.

"They are using our equipment and we are paying for it.

"It is double taxing. Our taxpayers have paid for the system.

"We are telling that organisation that it is about time that you start funding us.

"We give money to them all the time and it is about time they give something to us.”

"We are asking them to pay for using our CCTV coverage."

Cllr David Senior, said: “There is not a hope of me voting for this recommendation, people in Welshpool would see the town council not cooperating with the police."

Speaking of the meeting with Mr Llywelyn on February 28, Cllr Senior, said: “We seemed to go on the attack before he had a chance to explain things.

"At no point did he say that Welshpool was bottom of the pile.

"That's something we said and we’ve convinced ourselves.

"Rather than making friends with someone who could help us we seemed determined to make and enemy.

"Welshpool is one town within Dyfed-Powys, a vast area."

Cllr Alison Davies believed that the best way forward would be for Welshpool to be switched in to the Commissioners CCTV and believed it should have been included as an option.

Cllr Davies said: “Last weekend there were several windows broken in the town and due to the CCTV the police found the culprits within a matter of days.

"Taking our ball home as the game is not going our way is not the way to do things.

"We should be working co-operatively."