Is it good news that CCTV cameras run by Shropshire Council will continue to be monitored 24 hours a day despite funding pressures? asks Dave Morris

Do such cameras make our town centres safer at night or during the day?

Are they just another example of increasing intrusion into our lives by both the state and private sector?

These are just a few of the questions I’ve been pondering after reporting that Shropshire Council was looking to save £70,000 from its CCTV budget, and one option it considered was to reduce the number of hours that cameras were monitored.

But the savings are now being made in other ways to avoid having to cut the monitoring.

The Shirehall’s member “champion” for CCTV, Tony Durnell, said: “We have made shift patterns more cost-effective and at the same time made the whole department more efficient.

“Many of the improvements have come from the staff themselves, and give the team the flexibility to take on extra work from the private sector, without losing any monitoring time.”

Cabinet member, Martin Taylor-Smith, added: “The presence of CCTV on our streets has a clear benefit in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, which is a priority for the majority of Shropshire residents.”

Personally I’m not convinced that CCTV is as effective as we are led to believe.

It didn’t stop the violence the flared at last week’s student protest over tuition fees.

And closer to home there is still plenty of drunken yobbish behaviour in Shropshire town centres on a Saturday night along with assaults and broken shop windows.

No-one seems sure as to how many CCTV cameras there are in Britain.

However it is believed to be about 4.2 million. This is an incredible figure – one for every 14 people in the country.

And one and half times more than in totalitarian China!

George Orwell would have been staggered.

We have in fact more cameras than any other country in Europe but there have been reports that they have failed to have a massive impact on crime.

Are we a better society for having them?

The cameras are certainly more prevalent than they are in Spain where my wife and I enjoy spending time.

And yet earlier this year new figures showed that the country had its lowest crime figures for a decade, reaffirming that it has less crime than most other European states.

We’ve taken part in public celebrations in Spain where crowds have been enjoying themselves through the night to almost daybreak without a problem.

And yes, there has been plenty of alcohol available. But we haven’t had to be careful to avoid stepping in vomit.

It seems a far different story in the UK, despite the cameras.

Strange isn’t it?