The cost of theatre tickets for the Music Hall and Summer Season to be held in Shrewsbury should not be increased to help pay for the town’s CCTV network, councillors have said.

The cost of theatre tickets for the Music Hall and Summer Season to be held in Shrewsbury should not be increased to help pay for the town’s CCTV network, councillors have said.Members of the borough council’s cabinet last night described plans to put an extra 10p on theatre tickets to help find £64,000 to stop the CCTV service being cut and only manned at night as “impractical”.

Councillor Charles Armstrong said: “If it’s added on to a ticket price, we would have to pay VAT on it.”

Mr Armstrong said the theatre would have to ask people for say £20.10p instead of a round figure and it would be difficult for the Summer Season ticket sellers who would have to charge £5.10p and then have a pile of change ready to give people.

He said he thought the retail business and the night time economy should play a larger part in helping pay for CCTV in the town as it directly benefited them.

Councillor Claire Wild said she thought the police ought to contribute to the CCTV budget, which the borough cabinet voted to cut by more than a third in November last year.

She said: “One of its values in the town centre is crime prevention so it seems incredible that the police, who I would say benefit most from this, do not contribute .

“I think pressure should be put on them to make a contribution to this valuable service in the town,” she added.

The cabinet agreed that the overview committee should report directly to the full council after they cover the item on their agenda on November 30.