Business leaders and community groups are being urged to help bring closed-circuit television to Otley.

The Otley Town Watch group is getting quotes on the costs of installing and maintaining three cameras. Now the Chamber of Trade is also seeking support for the cameras.

Chamber vice president and chairman of Otley Town Watch, Sylvia Reid, said police had arranged a demonstration of how CCTV could be used.

She said: "By and large we were very impressed with the potential of what these cameras can actually capture on screen.

"We have asked for a quote from a company for what it would cost us to set up three cameras and to maintain them. I have got an awful feeling that quote is going to be expensive, but unless we find out, we won't know whether we can afford them."

Mrs Reid said that she had written to Otley's MP, Harold Best (Labour, Leeds North West) and Chamber president Tonia Hearne said that Mr Best was likely to attend a Chamber meeting in the near future.

Mrs Hearne said that for such a costly project, there needed to be an alliance of groups within the town to press forward.

She said: "It is going to have to be done working with as many groups as possible. I think it is extremely important to get as many different views as we can."

Honorary chamber member Stan Beadle said: "People say we can't afford it but we have reached the stage where we can't afford not to have it."

Mrs Reid said it was still an ambition to see every trader and business in the town becoming a member of the Town Watch group.

Town Watch stationery was being designed and produced with the aid of an Otley Town Council grant, which would be launched at the next group meeting in June.

She added: "It has encouraged us to begin asking ourselves where we can actually get more money from. If anybody has any more active ideas for fundraising, then please let us know."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.