A TOTAL of 11 CCTV cameras in Taunton town centre's "spine" are set to be upgraded to help provide better quality pictures to use as evidence in court cases.

Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) is investing £58,642 in its 'spy in the street' equipment during the current financial year.

And it is giving priority to cameras running from the junction of Staplegrove Road, through Bridge Street, North Street and Fore Street to East Street.

The equipment will be digitised and made wireless where applicable "in the most critical part of Taunton", according to a report to the council's Community Scrutiny Committee next Wednesday (August 31).

The report says: "The equipment requires updating in order to comply with the law."

It would also "improve the evidential quality and service of the most used cameras" and also reduce the annual operational and maintenance costs.

"There are 92 cameras across SWT area, the vast majority are analogue," adds the report. "They are significantly beyond their recommended lifespan and are starting to fail.

"The quality of the analogue images received through the digitised Video Management Systems (VMS) is not good and therefore makes the case more pressing to move to digitising the CCTV cameras."

A total of 68 cameras in Taunton, Wellington, Minehead and Watchet could be replaced at some stage, with 12 removed and a further 12 in the multi-storey car park in Paul Street, Taunton, retained.