A council is set to spend £80,000 on its ailing CCTV system after a survey identified more than half of its cameras in public spaces are not fully operational.

The money would be used to repair and replace “priority” hardware across Medway, but the proposal needs to be signed off by full council next month before work can start.

A recent audit suggested 68 of the authority’s 121 public space cameras do not function properly, with a further 22 of its 54 cameras car park cameras "non-operational".

Nearly 60% of Medway Council’s total stock were installed at least 10 years ago.

Leader Cllr Alan Jarrett (Con) also showed support for portfolio holder for resources Cllr Adrian Gulvin (Con), who admitted he did not know CCTV was his responsibility until recently.

Speaking yesterday (December 18), Cllr Jarrett said: “Cllr Gulvin, with officers, has assessed the status of our CCTV hardware, which we all know remains under the ownership of Medway Council.

“They’ve identified the priority repairs which need to be taking place and we’re going to allocated a sum of £80,000 to do that.

“I know Cllr Gulvin has got his finger firmly on that particular pulse as we speak.”

Medway Council is responsible for the CCTV “stock”, but the maintenance and repair of the cameras has been outsourced to Medway Commercial Group (MCG) – the authority’s own trading company.

Plans to allocate £24.7 million for an independent school for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Gillingham, through borrowing, will also be discussed by full council in January.