An overwhelming 95% of residents would be happy to see an additional rise in their council tax bill to cover the costs of a working CCTV system in Folkestone town centre, according to a councillor who conducted a straw poll.

Town and district councillor Lynne Beaumont (Lib Dem) conducted the poll in the town centre.

She says of the 130 people she asked in a two-hour session, 124 (95%) responded saying yes to paying extra to bring the out-of-date system up to 21st century standards with just six saying they were against the idea.

The debate between Folkestone Town Council and Shepway District Council over who should be responsible for a new system continues to rumble on.

It is currently run and monitored by SDC. But a report last year highlighted significant failings.

Mrs Beaumont said she believes it will add around £1.50 to a household’s council tax bill per year.

She said: “What’s happening is SDC are making moves to commission by the end of March and getting quotes [for the cost of a new system].

“What it means is it will cost about £50,000 a year to run and maintain, which is a huge amount on a town council budget.

“I was talking to people and they were saying after 4.30pm in the winter they would feel an awful lot safer and come into town. Whereas they would not do it now.

“It was a resounding success to ask people. You get a good cross-section of people from the east and west end.

“What I’m doing is feeding them [the results] back to Folkestone Town Council, that was the whole reason for doing it hopefully to enable them to take a quick decision. We need to make a quick decision.”

SDC’s community overview committee has ordered a review into why the state of the system has been allowed to become so run down.

At a full council meeting in November last year, district councillors voted to await the outcome of the review by the committee and to see results from reports commissioned by the town council before making any further decisions.

A questionnaire is available on the town council’s website www.folkestonetc.kentparishes.gov.uk or by visiting the town hall in Guildhall Street.

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