Angry residents will present a petition calling for CCTV cameras worth more than £20,000 to be reinstated by Swale council.

Windmill Road and Howard Avenue Neighbourhood Watch and Residents Association wants the equipment returned to Jordan Way, near Windmill Road, in Milton Regis.

The two cameras were bought by the group using a grant of £20,636 from the John George Jordan bequest fund in 2008.

But they were taken down by Swale council last year, without talking to the organisation.

The route leading to the underpass, which links to Staplehurst Road, was renamed Jordan Way after Mr Jordan left money to the people of Milton in his will. He used to live in Howard Avenue.

Co-ordinator Elaine Hopkins said: “The council decided, without any discussion with us, to take our cameras down.

“We’re a long way off the 1,500 signatures needed to force the council to do something about it. We’re at about 150 – it shows the strong sense of feeling and that there’s a bit of an injustice here.

“We claimed that community space back because it was a no-go area 10 years ago.

"It shows the strong sense of feeling" - Elaine Hopkins

“There are three footpaths which are well used but people won’t use them unless they are with someone now, even in broad daylight. We’re angry at the way the council has ridden roughshod over us. I’ve not got a clue what’s happened to our cameras. All we know is they’ve taken them down.

“We’re a community that worked hard and helped the council and saved them a lot of money.”

The petition will be presented at Swale’s Full Council meeting this evening.

Labour’s Cllr Tony Winckless represents Milton Regis and has been helping the group. He said: “The cameras are a deterrent because there was a lot of anti-social behaviour and it’s occurring again.”

Fly-tipping, littering and vandalism have been reported since the cameras were taken away.