THE future of CCTV in Malton and Norton is “hanging on a thread” unless a contract held by Ryedale District Council is extended.

Ryedale Cameras in Action (RCIA) has run the system since 1997, supported by funding from businesses, individuals and both Malton and Norton town councils.

A grant has also been provided by the district council, which holds the line contract with BT. However, this will expire on April 1.

At a meeting of stakeholders and trustees of RCIA last week, it was decided the charity could not take on the responsibilities and management of the CCTV from the authority as it has neither the staff nor the resources.

In a letter to Janet Waggott, chief executive of Ryedale District Council, Martin Dales, chairman of RCIA, said that as a result it would not accept the transfer of the BT Redcare contract currently with the authority.

“There was a lot of discussion about the future of Malton Police Station and the fact that relocation to Ryedale House is a preferred option for North Yorkshire Police and work is on-going to reach an early agreement in principle with the district council,” he said.

“As the CCTV monitors and recording equipment are located in the police station, it was hoped that the equipment could be relocated into Ryedale House.”

Mr Dales said RCIA had expressed a strong desire that the CCTV remain operable pending a decision as to its future, as it would be very difficult and expensive to resurrect the system at a later date.

“To this end, RCIA trusts that the council will extend the contract on a quarterly rolling basis but at no cost to the authority since the charity will refund the quarterly cost,” he said.

Mr Dales said RCIA still held town council contributions totalling more than £29,000 and they had resolved to reimburse the district council for any ongoing costs relating to BT, as well as maintenance and repair through the year 2015/16 or until the question of the relocation of Malton Police Station and the CCTV equipment was resolved.

“It is well established that the CCTV system in Ryedale has been extremely useful in assisting with that duty,” he added.

“ It is the strong view of the RCIA that the district council cannot absolve itself from that duty and that it would be wrong at this critical stage to allow the BT contract to terminate. We do not see how the council could possibly justify such a decision to its residents when RCIA has offered to refund the costs.”

Members of Norton Town Council have agreed to give their full support to RCIA.

Mayor Councillor Ray King said CCTV was a community asset and not just for the benefit of businesses.

“Crime is down in the area and in addition if there is no CCTV the Street Angels will not longer be able to operate in Malton and Norton who are doing a sterling job in the area at the present time according to the police,” he added.

Coun David Lloyd-Williams said the problem was that the majority of the councillors on the district council could not care less about the two towns.

“There should be some community provision from the district and I do feel that CCTV is one of them,” he added.

Insp Andy Everitt, of Ryedale police, said: “Ryedale Cameras in Action are determined to keep this valuable community asset going which I sincerely hope has the full support of Malton and Norton town councils and the wider community who either live, work or visit both of the towns. The reality is that the future of CCTV in our two towns is currently hanging on a thread.”

Ryedale District Council declined to comment.