Traders and councillors want a mobile closed-circuit television camera for Otley to make the town centre safer.

A series of attacks on shoppers has prompted the call, but money for a camera would have be raised from the private sector as Otley is not eligible for council funding.

Leeds City and Otley Town Councillor Phil Coyne (Labour, Ashfield Ward), Chairman of Otley Town Partnership, said: "Because of the low level of crime in Otley, we are not eligible for funding.

"I would like an arrangement between Pool-in-Wharfedale Parish Council, Bramhope Parish Council and Otley Town Council to jointly hold this camera so it can be used in Otley and Wharfedale.

"I am looking at the possibility of funding a mobile CCTV camera so we can focus on hot spots."

The latest attack in the town involved a 70-year-old woman who was shoved to the ground and had her bag snatched

Coun Coyne said: "It is extremely concerning in a small town like Otley. Certainly the town council and the town partnership would support CCTV. It is a case of identifying a source of funding for it."

But a spokesman for Leeds City Council said that although there had been some successes in the past with funding for CCTV from the Government, the last bidding process excluded town centres."

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