LEADING citizens are playing their part in combating crime in Ramsbottom town centre.

Ramsbottom Rotary Club have, with the help of the local police, purchased a mobile closed-circuit television camera to catch local yobs.

The move by the club follows a successful trial scheme by police last year in response to increasingly rowdy behaviour by youths in the town centre.

Last spring Ramsbottom police set up cameras around the town for a four-week initiative - which resulted in 16 youths being cautioned and one prosecution.

However a lack of resources meant the police could not continue the scheme, which was manned voluntary by Ramsbottom police and Special Constables.

So leading members of the Rotary Club got together to discuss the possibility of purchasing their own camera.

They were finally presented with their video camera yesterday, almost a year after starting the campaign. The camera will be available for the police to use whenever necessary. It will be moved around the area and into shop premises which are suffering from vandalism.

Mr Stuart Martin, a member of the club who spearheaded the move to buy the camera, said: "The members of Ramsbottom Rotary Club have shared the concern of many members of the local community about the anti-social behaviour of a relatively small but disruptive number of people in the town centre and at a number of locations in the area.

"Following the club's fantastic fund-raising campaign, the members are pleased to be able to present a powerful video camera to the Ramsbottom community and, it is hoped, improve security on the streets and enable everyone to walk round the town safely."

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